Cuba takes steps to increase legal species trade

HAVANA, Cuba, Mar 28 (ACN) The Regulation and Environmental Safety Bureau (ORSA) called to strengthen integration between science and knowledge in order to boost the legal trade of valuable (protected) species.

“This link with our activity is essential because we are in charge of evaluating and authorizing that trade, ORSA director Jorge Álvarez Álvarez told ACN.

The Environment Agency is engaged in research to establish the number and characteristics of individuals of a given species using scientific methodologies for controlled reproduction in breeding farms, hatcheries and nurseries.

Any trade-related decision regarding protected species must conform to Resolution 160/2011 of the Ministry of Science, Technology and the Environment, which lays down regulations related to the control and protection of species of special significance to the country’s biological diversity and to the applications for the relevant permits and registrations, intended to prevent illegal trade, which has increased in recent years to the detriment of birds, mollusks, reptiles, mammals and fish.

Other infractions have affected natural resources such as minerals, forestry and water, the reason that the Cuban government passed in March 2020 a Plan to prevent and prosecute these crimes against our flora and fauna.