National and foreign organizations participating in the international Coastal Resilience (RC) project confirmed the use of resources available to strengthen disaster risk reduction (DRR) and adaptation to climate change (ACC) in four coastal settlements in the center of northern Cuba.
Teresa López Seijas, coordinator of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), highlighted the fulfillment of fundamental purposes such as the improvement of technical conditions and the transfer of knowledge to manage, with an integrating vision, DRR and ACC.
She expressed his confidence that solutions based on ecosystems and communities will be more concrete in the coming years, especially the restoration of mangrove forests for the time required for regeneration.
However, she added, the results are surprising in the four direct intervention sites (Punta Brava, Playa Vitoria, Punta Alegre and Santa Rita), located in the provinces of Villa Clara, Sancti Spíritus, Ciego de Ávila and Camagüey, respectively.
In the case of Ciego de Ávila, she highlighted the operation of the DRR Management Center established in the municipality of Chambas, to consolidate the Civil Defense system and contribute to decision-making aimed at reducing vulnerabilities, the ACC and planning of socioeconomic development.
The lands involved in mangrove rehabilitation, she said, show the effectiveness of their work, so that the plantations cover areas that were devoid of that vegetation.
Likewise, transformations are evident in agricultural farms, including the incorporation of agro-ecological practices that benefit DRR and ACC, in addition to increasing contributions to the economy with production of animal feed, various crops, milk and its derivatives, and charcoal, resources destined to meet the needs of the local population.
She emphasized that all CR intervention sites establish synergies with the international project Connecting Landscapes to implement mountain agricultural experiences in coastal areas, however, Punta Alegre becomes a benchmark for the state and yield of crops, as a result of the use of organic fertilizers and efficient microorganisms.
López Seijas meant the linking of municipal university centers to the areas involved in CR, which represents a guarantee to meet the objectives and promote local development.
Farmers linked to the project in Punta Alegre referred to the contribution of knowledge and resources to progress in agricultural and livestock activities, and in the recovery of mangroves that contribute to the protection of private and collective assets from the effects of extreme hydro-meteorological events.
Directors and specialists of the Base Business Unit of the Chambas Integral Forestry Company thanked the improvement of technical conditions and the contribution of scientific knowledge to achieve greater effectiveness in the assisted natural regeneration of mangrove forests and the removal of invasive exotic plants of those environments.
They valued the importance of the work carried out on El Mamón beach to protect the town of Rivero -at the entrance to Puntalegrense territory- threatened by flooding in cases of heavy rains and penetration of the sea.
Colonel Gloria Gely Martínez, head of the Disaster Reduction Department of the National Civil Defense General Staff, appreciated the smooth running of the project, as well as the responsibility and commitment assumed by local governments with this emblematic initiative of the European Union (EU) that supports the most vulnerable countries to increase their resilience to climate change.
She highlighted the optimal use of resources based on DRR and ACC, as well as the capacity of the specialists that make up the international Coastal Resilience project, who demonstrate a high level of preparation and commitment to meeting the objectives.
The project, she assumed, concludes this year, but the local authorities must achieve sustainability in the actions.
Santos Cubillas Hernández, director of CR, stressed that the program has been developed under the tensions and limitations caused by the COVID‒19 pandemic and a global economic crisis, however, the commitment of the actors involved leads to success, from the identification with the objectives and the understanding of the essences.
As part of its actions, RC created community training centers in its four direct intervention sites, and another with a regional character in the province of Villa Clara, in addition to financing the assembly of automatic meteorological and tide stations, north of Sancti Spíritus and Ciego de Ávila, to strengthen the early warning system.
Nurseries were established to develop positions that will allow reforestation in different areas, including mountainous ecosystems, whose conditions also determine the ecological balance on the coast.
The tour of the RC intervention area ended this Thursday afternoon in the coastal settlement of Santa Rita, located in the municipality of Nuevitas, in the province of Camagüey.