Agricultural resilience project under way in central Cuba

SANTA CLARA, Cuba, Mar 10 (ACN) With the purpose of benefiting agriculture in the province of Villa Clara, the project Increasing Resilience of Cuban Agricultural Ecosystems (IRES), approved last 2020 in Geneva by the Green Climate Fund (GCF), will kick off in March through the Ministry of Agriculture (MINAG) in seven municipalities of the most affected by climate change in the Island.

IRES is expected to have a direct impact on 15,900 people and indirectly favor another 58,000 thanks to six agroforestry and silvopasture modules which can adjust to any type of land and include the provision of equipment and machinery to improve working conditions and rehabilitate productive landscapes, among other benefits.

IRES will also receive technical assistance from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) to mitigate the emission of approximately 2.7 million tons of greenhouse gases.

GCF board member Jorge Ferrer Rodríguez stressed the relevance of the project to learning economic efficiency in Cuba, whereas Eduardo Mansur, director of FAO's Office of Climate Change, Biodiversity and Environment, remarked that IRES comes at a crucial moment for this small island state, faced with both climate change and the effects of COVID-19.

Data provided by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change show that in recent years Cuba has recorded rising temperatures, seasonal rains, prolonged droughts and increased hurricane activity, among other events which place it on the list of high-risk countries of the Climate Change Vulnerability Index for the region, prepared by the Development Bank of Latin America.