Cuban Wetlands: Internationally Important

HAVANA, Cuba, Feb 10 (acn) Cuban experts are working on a project of two new proposals in the country asRamsar Sites which is an international convention related to wetlands and in particular water bird habitats.

One of them is the Guanahacabibes Wetland and the other the Sur de los Palacios, both in the province of Pinar del Rio, according to specialists of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment.

If both cases are approved by the Ramsar Convention, Cuba will have 8 of its type that are internationally recognized, said a source.

The Ministry adds that the other Ramsar Sites are the Zapata Swamp (Matanzas), Delta del Cauto Wetland (Granma), Gran Humedal del Norte (Ciego de Avila), Rio Maximo-Camaguey Wetland (Camaguey) and Lanier Swamp south of the Isle of Youth.

The Ramsar Convention was signed in Iran in 1971 and was affective four years later and Cuba became a member in 2001 for being the only of the modern conventions related to the environment centered in the specific ecosystem.

Although at first it was its essential objective, the convention is recognized by its international conservation and the sustainable use of the biodiversity with work in the regulation of the continental phase of the hydrological cycle.

But also in stabilizing local climate, values (biological resources, fishing and water supply) and attributes (biological diversity refuse, cultural heritage and traditional uses).

Cuba has 211 protected areas including the marine insular platform up to 200 meters deep that make up 20.20 percent of the surface.

According to the National Protected Areas Center there were 253 only some years ago but they will be reduced by 2020 after some research on the unification of its government and effective management.

However, there will not be any reduction of its spaces but rather an increase by the expansion of its coverage through the unification of the administrative leadership in the provinces.