CubaEco. Environmental Summary/ AAMEC

During the early 1980s, 13,300 cubic meters of urban sewage and 6,015 cubic meters of industrial wastes were dumped into the Almendares River and its tributaries every 24 hours. This river crosses the city of Havana and its bridges and landscapes constitute a fundamental part of the island's capital. The pollution of this legendary river still continues.

More than 300 regulatory statues exist in Cuba to govern environmental protection. Among them: 39 laws, 36 decree laws, 83+ decrees, 95 resolutions, 73 technical standards and 9 with other designations. It is understandable that from this mountain of paper it is difficult to watch over nature's own mountains.

Only 13.3% of the province of Camaguey is covered by forests. Merely 45% of the reforestation planned by the government is being carried out. A forest fire that occurred last April impacted more than 21,000 cubic meters of timber.

Soil degradation is one of the most severe damages to ecosystems the world over. The rise in population and the resulting intensification of agricultural activities—as well as the ignorance and disdain with which those responsible for this situation have confronted it—have made erosion a runaway and lamentable problem that already threatens the future development of agriculture. We identify below some of the natural and economic causes that bring about the degradation, to different extents, of 75% of the farmable land in the Camaguey region of Cuba:

- Preponderance of shallow soils.

- The great areal extents affected by poor drainage.

- Salinization of some 254,800 hectares.

- The occurrence of other degradational processes such as acidification and gleization.

- Steep long slopes.

- The high erosivity of rains.

- The types of specialized, State-owned agricultural areas and enterprises.

- Poor agrotechnical practices.

- Preferential placement of row crops on slopes.

- Insufficient development of forested areas to protect basins and reservoirs.

- Non-reclamation of quarries and borrow pits.

- The elimination of coastal vegetation.

- Agricultural exploitation of soils below elevation 5.

{Translated from the original Spanish-language version}

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