Cuba boasts new protected areas in its geography

HAVANA, Cuba, Jul 4 (ACN) Nearly 19 % of the national territory's surface is occupied by the 144 new protected areas officially declared by the Council of Ministers.

These also represent 22.76 % of the inland waters of the insular platform and 15.96 % of the land, according to the National Center for Protected Areas (CNAP) of the Environment Agency.

Only in 2021, 26 more emerged in most of the nation's provinces, where Las Tunas and Guantanamo (both in eastern region) top the list with four, respectively.

In the first case are the Malagueta Bay Fauna Refuge, and the managed flora reserves Las Nuevas, Monte Naranjito - Cenicero, and San Miguel del Junco.

Guantanamo has similar numbers: the natural elements Paso de los Alemanes and Maisi-Caleta; the Maisi - Yumuri Protected Natural Landscape; and the Pico Galan Managed Floristic Reserve.

Because of its national or international relevance, a protected area or any of its elements may be given other titles, including Local Monument, National Monument, Biosphere Reserve, World Heritage Sites, and RAMSAR Sites.

The Ramsar Convention was signed in the Iranian city of the same name in 1971, came into force four years later, and Cuba became a State Party to it in 2001, as it is the only modern environmental convention that focuses on a specific ecosystem.