Cuba - Lonely Planet [55]
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NATIONAL PARKS
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As of 2009, there were seven national parks in Cuba: Parque Nacional Península de Guanahacabibes and Parque Nacional Viñales (both in Pinar del Río); Gran Parque Natural Montemar (Matanzas); Gran Parque Nacional Sierra Maestra and Parque Nacional Desembarco del Granma (both in Granma province); Parque Nacional Alejandro de Humboldt (Guantánamo) and Parque Nacional Caguanes (Sancti Spíritus province). Of these, both Desembarco del Granma and Alejandro de Humboldt are also Unesco World Heritage Sites.
On top of these parks there are many more protected areas: natural parks, flora and fauna reserves, areas of managed resources, eco-parks, bio-parks and Ramsar Convention sites. The interconnecting network is often confusing (some parks have two interchangeable names) – and sometimes overlapping – but the sentiment’s the same; environmental stewardship with a solid governmental backing.
National conservation policies are directed by Comarna, which acts as a coordinating body, overseeing 15 ministries and ensuring that current national and international environmental legislation is being carried out efficiently and effectively. This includes adherence to the important international treaties that govern Cuba’s six Unesco Biosphere Reserves and nine Unesco World Heritage Sites.
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ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES
Cuba’s greatest environmental problems are aggravated by an economy struggling to survive. As the country pins its hopes on tourism to save the financial day, a schizophrenic environmental policy has evolved, cutting right to the heart of the dilemma: how can a developing nation provide for its people and maintain high (or at least minimal) ecological standards?
One disaster in this struggle, most experts agree, was the 2km-long stone pedraplén (causeway) constructed to link offshore Cayo Sabinal with mainland Camagüey. This massive project involved piling boulders in the sea and laying a road on top, which interrupted water currents and caused irreparable damage to bird and marine habitats. Other longer causeways were built connecting Los Jardines del Rey to Ciego de Ávila (27km long; Click here) and Cayo Santa María to Villa Clara (a 48km-long monster; Click here). The full extent of the ecological damage wreaked by these causeways won’t be known for another decade at least.
Building new roads and airports, package tourism that shuttles large groups of people into sensitive habitats and the frenzied construction of giant resorts on virgin beaches exacerbate the clash between human activity and environmental protection. The grossly shrunken extents of the Reserva Ecológica Varahicacos in Varadero due to encroaching resorts is just one example. Rounding up dolphins as entertainers has rankled activists as well. Overfishing (including turtles and lobster for tourist consumption), agricultural runoff, industrial pollution and inadequate sewage treatment have contributed to the decay of coral reefs, and diseases such as yellow band, black band and nuisance algae have begun to appear.
As soon as you arrive in Havana or Santiago de Cuba, you’ll realize that air pollution is a problem. Airborne particles, old cars belching black smoke and by-products from burning garbage are some of the culprits. Cement factories, sugar refineries and other heavy industry take their toll. The nickel mines engulfing Moa serve as stark examples of industrial concerns taking precedence: this is some of the prettiest landscape in Cuba, turned into a barren wasteland of lunar proportions.
On the bright side is the enthusiasm the government has shown for reforestation and protecting natural areas – there are several projects on the drawing board (see boxed text,) – and its willingness to confront mistakes from the past. Havana Harbor, once Latin America’s most polluted, has been undergoing a massive cleanup project, as