Re: Cuban Provinces Still Waterless


"Barry Schier" <bschier@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1133053621.923163.311590@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> And, according to the "logic" of the counterrevolutionaries, Fidel
> Castro is responsible for Cuba's weather!

Nope.
But he is responsible for the waste of water through and management of water
resources.


2 million acres in the East and south out of production because of mistakes
in the past.

Cuban agriculture has long neglected environmental concerns. This has led
to soil erosion, water pollution, contamination and degradation of coastal
habitats, and development of chemical-resistant pests. Perhaps the most
serious problem, however, is soil salinization. According to The Greening of
the Revolution (Peter Rosset and Medea Benjamin eds, [Melbourne, Australia:
Ocean Press, 1994]), almost two million acres of farmland, mainly located on
eastern and southern Cuba, suffer from severe salinization. The Cuban
government claims to have stopped further salinization, though it admits
little progress has been made in rehabilitating soils.
In a 1993 paper titled Water, Development, and Environment in Cuba: A
First Look (Third Annual Meeting of the Association for the Study of the
Cuban Economy, Florida International University), Cuban American scholars
Sergio Diaz-Briquets and Jorge Perez-Lopez wrote that one of the main
problems of Cuban agriculture has been its expansion of irrigation. In the
1970s and 1980s, the government constructed hundreds of dams and reservoirs.
The damming of most of Cuba's free flowing water, combined with unsound
water management and irrigation practices, contributed to the soil and water
problems mentioned above. Over-watering, over-tilling, and poor flood
control exacerbated salinization and erosion, and contributed to the decline
in overall soil fertility.
In the view of the twenty scientists of various nationalities whose
findings were reported in The Greening of the Revolution, Cuba has recently
implemented organic farming techniques to counter the low soil fertility
resulting from excessive cultivation and chemical use during the 1970s and
1980s. Cattle, pig, and chicken manure, peat, bio-fertilizers, worm humus
and recycled waste are employed in this program.
Soil erosion is being addressed by reducing the number of tillings per
year and introducing plowing techniques which cut the roots of weeds without
turning the soil. In addition, Cuba's positive net reforestation is likely
to somewhat ease erosion. However, Cuba's urgent food needs cause many
observers to question how diligently these techniques will be pursued if
they lead, even temporarily, to lower productivity.
http://www.georgetown.edu/sfs/programs/clas/Caribe/bp8.htm

Large areas of Pinar are becoming deserts.

Avanzan hacia la desertificación amplias zonas de Pinar del Río
por licenciado Víctor Rolando Arroyo, UPECI

PINAR DEL RIO, abril - La desertificación es un grave problema que afecta al
mundo, y a ese azote no escapa la provincia de Pinar del Río, siendo la
acción del hombre el origen principal de este negativo impacto.

Prácticamente, la degradación afecta toda la provincia, siendo el lugar
donde se denota con más intensidad la llanura sur, que constituye la columna
vertebral de la producción agroalimentaria y acuícola de este territorio.

Este negativo fenónemo avanza a un ritmo de 11 kilómetros por año en este
territorio, afectando importantes enclaves ganaderos, tabacaleros, arroceros
y de cultivos varios. La provincia presenta un sombrío panorama, dado por el
sobrecultivo, el exceso de pastoreo, la deforestación, y el riego
inadecuado.

La salinización, que ya se hace evidente en el 34% de las más de 574 mil
hectáreas de suelo agrícola, incide en producciones tales como el cultivo de
la caña, afectando los rendimientos en cientos de hectáreas en los cinco
centrales ubicados en este territorio, uno de los cuales no hace zafra desde
hace dos años, por no disponer de los suficientes volúmenes de materia
prima.

Las afectaciones alcanzan también a la cuenca lechera del sur de la
provincia, ya que los pastos no prosperan en suelos salinizados, y se han
reportado índices productivos por vaca de menos de 4 litros de leche al día.

Los bosques de galería están degradados y en algunos sitios han desaparecido
debido a la tala indiscriminada, extendiéndose la erosión por más de 279 mil
hectáreas del territorio provincial y se han dado manifestaciones de baja
fertilidad en el 30% de los suelos agrícolas.

Otros impactos negativos, dados por acidez, el mal drenaje, la contaminación
y otros factores, tienen también una amplia presencia en el entorno,
acentuándose en la llanura sur.

La biodiversidad corre un gran riesgo: 340 especies de flora y fauna están
amenazadas de extinción. De ellas, 250 vegetales, verificándose 50 en
peligro crítico y 20 dadas como desaparecidas.

Un ejemplo de territorio devastado es el municipio tabacalero de San Luis,
en el cual sólo existen 9 especies vegetales en peligro, pues en el mismo se
presenta un típico caso de desaparición de la biodiversidad.

En la llanura sur hay una sobreexplotación de los acuíferos, manifestándose
una intrusión salina de entre 15 y 20 kilómetros tierra adentro. El clima va
transformándose lentamente, con un aumento de la temperatura de 0,6 grados
Centígrados por sobre los valores medios históricos.

Por todo lo antes expuesto, la actividad económica del territorio se ve
afectada, y se han constatado pérdidas por más de 10 millones de pesos al
año sólo en los cultivos de arroz y caña. Otros ejemplos los podemos
encontrar en la casi desaparición de las capturas de ranas, que eran, en la
década del 70, de más de 300 toneladas al año, y en 1996 apenas fue de 25
toneladas.

En la captura de ostiones se ha observado una disminución del 85% de los
volúmenes obtenidos, en comparación con dos décadas anteriores.

Las aguas residuales del cultivo del arroz, con una amplia presencia de
agentes químicos, llega a la plataforma insular sur, alejando la presencia
de la langosta a más de 20 kilómetros de las tradicionales áreas de pesca.

Ya en la llanura sur se está observando un proceso migratorio que, aunque
incipiente, ya nos pone en alerta de las futuras consecuencias de este
impacto.

Urge iniciar las decenas de proyectos generales y específicos que
permitirían rehacer el equilibrio y lograr la sustentabilidad del
territorio. Pero faltan los recursos que el régimen cubano dice no disponer,
mientras el ecosistema presenta impactos sensibles, debido a la acción de
las empresas estatales, propietarias de la inmensa mayoría de estas áreas.

Source : http://www.cubanet.org/CNews/y99/apr99/22a1.htm

Environment-Cuba: Sugarcane A Culprit In Soil Depletion
HAVANA, Aug 28, 2003 (IPS/GIN via COMTEX) -- The sugar industry is among the
major contributors to the degradation of Cuban soil, a problem affecting
nearly 70 percent of cultivable areas on the island. Worldwide,
desertification processes cause losses of $42 billion annually.
According to official figures, the soil in 11 of Cuba's 14 provinces suffers
from erosion, compaction, acidity, salinity and lack of organic material,
but the phenomenon is most dramatic in the east, where the island's most
fragile ecosystems are found.

Experts say the main culprit is five centuries of monoculture of sugarcane,
a crop that depletes the soil's nutrients. Sugarcane production intensified
in the early 19th century through the mid-20th century.

Commercial cultivation of sugarcane and subsequent expansion of cattle
raising led to the deforestation of extensive areas, a phenomenon that
accelerated in the 19th century with the rise of coffee plantations in the
eastern mountains.

In less than two centuries, the island lost eight million hectares of
tree-covered area, such that by 1959 only 14 percent of Cuban territory was
forested.

"And that 14 percent which was not appropriate for agricultural use has been
suffering an accelerated process of erosion," Antonio Perera, an expert with
the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) told Tierramerica.

When degradation is combined with compaction and salinity, it accelerates
the soil processes leading to desertification, Perera said.

In his opinion, the reconversion of the Cuban sugar industry begun last
year -- aimed at reducing sugar production to no more than four million
tonnes a year as a means to boost prices -- will permit better soil
management.

Around one million hectares that have been dedicated to sugarcane
plantations will be converted into forests to produce lumber, fruit orchards
or put to other agricultural uses.

"The major desertification processes emerge as a result of historic
problems, particularly due to the loss of vegetation or the inappropriate
use of agricultural resources," commented Perera.

Desertification is a gradual process of loss of soil productivity caused by
human activities and by climate variations.

Seventy percent of the 5.2 billion hectares of arid lands dedicated to
agriculture worldwide, or 30 percent of the earth's land surface, is
degraded and in danger of desertification.

Meeting in Havana until Sept. 5 is the Fifth Conference of Parties to the
United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). Official
delegations from 160 countries are participating.

Perera said the conference participants are expected to approve a financial
mechanism aimed at confronting desertification problems through the Global
Environment Facility of the World Bank.

Soil degradation, desertification and lack of water are some of the key
problems that must be tackled in efforts to reduce global poverty in
compliance with the Millennium Goals, established by the United Nations in
2000.

More than 250 million people directly suffer the effects of desertification,
according to U.N. figures.

"Desertification is not the natural expansion of existing deserts but the
degradation of land in arid, semi-arid, and dry sub-humid areas," states the
UNCCD web site.

Desertification is a gradual process of "soil productivity loss and the
thinning out of the vegetative cover because of human activities and
climatic variations such as prolonged droughts and floods."

Human actions that contribute to desertification include overcultivation,
livestock overgrazing, deforestation, and poor irrigation practices. "Such
overexploitation is generally caused by economic and social pressure,
ignorance, war and drought," says the UNCCD.

(Patricia Grogg is an IPS correspondent.)

* Originally published Aug. 23 by Latin American newspapers that are part of
the Tierramerica network. Tierramerica is a specialized news service
produced by IPS with the backing of the United Nations Development Programme
and the United Nations Environment Programme: http://www.tierramerica.net



Copyright (c) 2003 IPS-Inter Press Service. All Rights Reserved.
http://investor.stockpoint.com/leftnav/newspaper.asp?Mode=cubaWater,
Development, and Environment in Cuba; A First Look
http://www.lanic.utexas.edu/la/cb/cuba/asce/cuba3/briquets2.htmlPL


.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: The True Cost Of Meat
    ... >> And then of course is the water, since animals need a lot of it. ... > Manure lose 50% mass in composting before becoming soil amendments. ... Restoring Soil Carbon Should Be Top Global Priority ...
    (sci.med.nutrition)
  • Re: La más reforestada de Cuba
    ... Cuban agriculture has long neglected environmental concerns. ... serious problem, however, is soil salinization. ... desertification processes cause losses of $42 billion annually. ... Sugarcane production intensified ...
    (soc.culture.cuba)
  • Re: Class B cannabis
    ... Cover the soil around the plant with a thick layer of natural mulch to ... attract condensed water and to keep soil moisture from evaporating. ... Transplant seedlings or clones in spring and grow marijuana plants as you ... Vansterdan has been planting in the mountains for 12 years in secret gardens ...
    (uk.politics.drugs)
  • Growing cannabis outside (Was: Class B cannabis)
    ... soil and water them" then I'd like to see it. ... That doesn't mean that if you take some cannabis seeds or tomato seeds ... Dig in some organic matter and possibly something to hold water. ... Water the plants with some soluble fertiliser. ...
    (uk.politics.drugs)
  • Re: Neolithisation of Europe and Scandinavia
    ... water, thes soil is prone to blowing, not a problem here, ... This type of soil works well if moved in over heavy clay ... Organics material should be in the composted form of durable ... If the loam is deep and the water table also deep there is going ...
    (sci.archaeology)
Loading