The World Bank/WBI’s CBNRM Initiative
Case Received: February 17, 1998
Author: René P. Capote López and L. Menéndez
Tel/Fax: +53 7 24 91 17
Email: ecologia@ceniai.inf.cu
Communities and Management of Natural
Resources of the Cuban Archipelago:
Case Studies in Coastal and Mountain Ecosystems
Country: Cuba.
Regions: Sabana-Camagüey Archipelago. Ciego de Avila., Sierra del Rosario, Pinar del Río.
Type of natural resources: Coastal ecosystems, Low mountain ecosystems (up to 500-600 m above sea level) Sierra del Rosario, Pinar del Río, Biosphere Reserve, UNESCO.
Case identification: Sabana-Camagüey Archipelago
The Sabana-Camagüey Archipelago is one of the four archipelagos around the island of Cuba. It is located to the north and extends over 465 km, from the Hicacos Peninsula in the west to the Bay of Nuevitas in the east, and is made up of a total of 2,517 islands and keys representing 60% of the island territories of the Cuban Archipelago. Although the majority of the keys forming it are small, others such as the Romano, Coco, Sabinal, Guajaba and Santa Maria keys stand out because on the basis of their size and structure they can be considered islands. This territory is considered a special sustainable development region within the National Protected Areas System.
The authors belong to the Environment Agency (AMA) of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment (CITMA), in which capacity they advise on, direct and carry out conservation and natural resource management programs, with emphasis on biodiversity and coastal ecosystems in this case.
Initial situation
This territory, like many other coastal areas, was considered marginal for settlement and economic purposes with the result that such activities have not been intensive in nature and much less planned. The territory began to be developed in the past century, giving rise to small human settlements located in the coastal zone of the island of Cuba and on the small islands themselves, as was the case with Rosario de Versalles on Cayo Romano, La Jaula on Cayo Coco, Los Hornos on Cayo Guajaba and for a time on Cayo Santa Maria and the Sabinal, Fragoso and Francés keys, although only for a very short while. During that period possibly the most aggressive human activities were lumbering and charcoal-making, which formed the economic base for the very sparse established population and the people who migrated into the territories, and also extensive stockraising based on browsing which developed until quite large numbers of livestock were present and their descendants are still there today, although now practically reverted to the wild state. In this way, some forested areas were cut, burned off or converted into rangeland. The pronounced fragility and complexity of these coastal ecosystems together with their high natural potential for development as ecotourism attractions, has rendered it necessary to implement a system of protected areas so as to ensure the conservation and sustainable use of the ecological heritage of this island system. During the 1980s these territories were withdrawn from the productive sector with a view to being managed with the aim of conserving and protecting their fragile nature, which is still in a very primary form. The first regulations governing their use within the general Protected Area category were introduced at that time.
Change Process
Starting in 1989 a series of studies was made for tourism purposes which provided a more integral view of the ecological and landscape potential of these areas of natural beauty. These studies served as the starting point for a broader research project aimed at the sustainable use of this territory and preservation of its biodiversity. All these research and development studies have been carried out under the auspices of government agencies, with financial support from GEF/UNDP, and under the direction of the Environment Agency of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment, with the participation of more than a dozen other state agencies and entities, including the Institute of Ecology and Systems, which has directed the studies covering the land-based ecology aspects.
The results from the past few years of study constitute valuable scientific contributions:
These results have made it possible to formulate a strategy for the conservation, rehabilitation and sustainable use of these econosystems, based on the knowledge gained of the degree of ecological sensitivity of the territory and establishment of a proposal for a system of protected areas. The results obtained have a region-wide and international significance within the framework of UNDP programs. Areas have been delimited which possess the greatest ecotourism potential, and ecological rules and standards have been drawn up that will ensure the sustainability of these possible socioeconomic actions.
With the incipient development of these areas for tourism, steps have been taken to provide training and establish employment for the people of the coastal settlements near the keys, both in construction and in tourist and support facilities. The Center for Research on Coastal Ecosystems has been built and is now operational, with scientific staff trained to perform environmental monitoring and management work that will serve to ensure compliance with the ecological rules and standards laid down with a view to preservation and sustainable use of the area's biodiversity. The five provinces encompassing the Sabana-Camagüey Archipelago have received benefits of a scientific nature through the raising of their technical capacities, together with the economic benefits flowing from the higher incomes derived from the development of tourism.
The Sierra del Rosario Biosphere Reserve (RBSR) is located in western Cuba, in the eastern part of the sierra of that name, in the Cordillera de Guaniguanico, between the provinces of Pinar del Río and La Habana. It is a protected natural resource management area in the pertinent national system and is representative of the country's low mountain ecosystems.
The RBSR was established in 1985 as one of the first of its type in the Caribbean and Central American area. In terms if its sociohistorical development it is representative of the general characteristics of the development of the landscapes in the lower mountain regions of western Cuba, which have basically been shaped by agricultural activities, chiefly stockraising and sugarcane growing, since the nineteenth century.
The population of the reserve receives the benefits from the national programs for education, health and mountain communities, among others, so their standard of living is in line with the current indexes for Cuba. Since the 1960s, a differentiated socioeconomic development program has been underway in this area, from which it has derived its present level of development, generating experience which enriches the national program for mountain communities.
The authors belong to the Environment Agency (AMA) of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment (CITMA), in which capacity they advise on, direct and carry out conservation and natural resource management programs, with emphasis on biodiversity and ecosystems of mountain regions in this case.
Initial situation
In 1984 a proposal was submitted to UNESCO for Cuban participation in Project No. 1 of the Programme on Man and the Biosphere (MAB) through study of the tropical forests represented in the country. The intention was to start an ecological study of the evergreen forests of the Sierra del Rosario, within the framework of the above-mentioned socioeconomic conditions, in order to contribute to the efforts of the Cuban scientific institutions, headed by the then Botanic Institute (present Institute of Ecology and Systems) to carry out integral ecological research studies in this territory.
The above actions resulted in publication of a monograph entitled "Ecology of the Evergreen Tropical Forests of the Sierra del Rosario, Cuba", which established a characterization of the region's natural resources for determining ecological functioning patterns of the physico-geographic complexes and preparing proposals for regional ecological plans for the mountain zones. All of this served as a basis for the establishment and reconciliation of operating and socioeconomic management plans for the RBSR.
The establishment of the RBSR and of the Sierra del Rosario Ecological Station has made it possible to identify patterns of function and prepare regional plans applicable to the use and sustainable management of land ecosystems in mountain areas and which are being applied through the management and conservation programs of the different institutions, agencies and NGOs active in the reserve.
The RBSR's conservation plans opened the way for the proposal in 1994 of an initial Operating Plan under the direction of CITMA and with international support from the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and UNESCO. The main programs being carried out under the Operating Plan are: Administrative Organization; Management Planning; Local Participation and Environmental Education, Protection and Surveillance; Research and Training; and Public Use and Recreation. The follow-up of these management actions has laid the foundations for the present preparation of a medium-term management program for the RBSR as a reference protected area for the organization and development of the country's Special Sustainable Development Regions in the context of the National Protected Areas System (SNAP-CITMA).
The scientific, technical and sociocultural results obtained have made it possible to recognize the area's chief values, such as:
The above-mentioned findings and data have made it possible to identify the RBSR as a territory of national and international interest on the basis of the development objectives it represents, which can serve as references for proposed new actions in the area itself or in similar areas elsewhere in the country or abroad. These data are already being used for development of the biosphere reserves in Cuba and in the relevant UNESCO international system, especially in Latin American in the CYTED Program cooperation system.
The authors contrast the results obtained in the two case studies, establishing the similarities between them and also their individual features in order to identify bases for management strategies for coastal and mountain ecosystems.