Environmental initiative with major achievements in Cuban easternmost province

GUANTANAMO, Cuba, Jan 8 (ACN) The German foundation Oro Verde recognized the results in 2023 of the international project Cuencas Verdes, focused for five years on natural conservation actions for the hydrographic system of the Jaguani River, the main sub-basin of the Toa River, the largest flow in Cuba and one of the most important water reserves in the country.

In the easternmost part of the area, some 5,000 hectares of valuable remnants of Amazonian-type rainforests, with highly endemic flora and fauna, and 25 tributaries with abundant and permanent crystal-clear water flow.

The environmental initiative, also implemented in aquariums of national interest in Mexico, Guatemala and the Dominican Republic, closed last December its activities in areas of the Guantanamo municipalities of Baracoa and Yateras, and the municipality of Moa in Holguin.

Three of the four Conservation Departments of the Alejandro de Humboldt National Park (PNAH), the main nucleus of the Cuchillas del Toa Biosphere Reserve, a protected area with the highest levels of biodiversity and endemic Antillean species, are located in these territories.

Mauricio Santamaria, international coordinator of the non-governmental organization based in the German city of Bonn, highlighted the high level of professionalism demonstrated by the Guantanamero researchers in meeting the project's goals.

Among the most relevant results, he pointed out the increase in vegetation cover, the creation of agricultural and forestry seed banks, and the installation of four automatic weather stations in Taco Bay, Baracoa; Cupeyal del Norte and Ojito de Agua, in Yateras, and La Melba, in Moa, Holguin.

With Wi-Fi technology and solar panels, these facilities are capable of recording the variables of temperature, relative humidity, evaporation, sunshine and wind direction and intensity, with the support of computer systems to summarize the indicators and make weather forecasts.

He also assured that the valuable Cuban experiences in Green Watersheds could be replicated in other countries of the region, while he praised the progress in the implementation of ecosystem-based adaptation measures (EbA) in Cuba, as a result of the presentation of 16 papers in national and international events.

The Alejandro de Humboldt Provincial Center for Environmental and Technological Services, attached to the National Center for Protected Areas, was the entity in charge of executing the initiative, for which Oro Verde donated more than 450,000 euros and the Cuban government provided some 284,000 pesos.