Dossier Ready for New Biosphere Reserve in Cuba

Havana, Cuba, Jul 4 (ACN) Cuban scientists have concluded a dossier of the Sierra de los Organos land ecosystem in the western province of Pinar del Rio which will be proposed as the 7th Biosphere Reserve in the country.

PhD in Agricultural Sciences and General Director of the Research and Environmental Center (ECOVIDA) Yoel Martinez Maqueira told ACN during an exclusive interview that the proposal includes the work of several institutions.

An update is only pending in virtue to the current structural changes of the economic and social part of the communities in each one of its areas for its presentation to the correspondent entities, in particular the local governments of the six municipalities of the area.

These are Vinales, La Palma, Minas de Matahambre, San Juan and Martinez, Guanes and Mantua. The proposal will also be taken to the Provincial Administrative Council with all the information and sponsors.

He added that the region constitutes a geographic area of special interest, above all for occupying a portion of the Guaniguanico mountain range and sharing the region with the Sierra del Rosario.

The complete dossier will be presented to UNESCO's Advisory Council of the Man and its Biosphere Program for its approval whose National Commission is headed by PhD Maritza Garcia Garcia, President of the Cuban Environmental Agency.

The Sierra del Rosario (Artemisa) constituted the first Biosphere Reserve on the island in 1985, followed by the Guanahacabibes Peninsula (Pinar del Rio), Cuchillas del Toa (Guantanamo-Holguin), Baconao (Santiago de Cuba), Buenavista (Villa Clara, Sancti Spiritus and Ciego de Avila, and Zapata Swamp (Matanzas).

The Biosphere Reserves are distinguished by the Advisory Council of Man and its Biosphere as demonstrative sites of the planet's biodiversity and can be inhabited in a sustainable way.

ECOVIDA, based in the city of Pinar del Rio, has one of a number of stands at the Exhibition Fair of the 11th International Convention on Environment and Development underway at Havana's Convention Center which will conclude on Friday.