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ENVIRONMENT-CUBA:
A Refuge for the Pink Flamingo
Dalia Acosta*
CAMAGÜEY, Cuba, (Tierramérica) -
Nine kilometres and a nearly
impassable road separate the
small isolated Cuban community
of Mola from the sign announcing
the entrance to the most
important pink flamingo refuge
in the Caribbean region.
''From here you have to walk
hours through that marsh, deep
in mud, to get near the nesting
site,'' Francisco Alvarez, a
conservationist at the wildlife
refuge at the mouth of the
Máximo River, told Tierramérica.
More than 150,000 pink flamingos
(Phoenicopterus ruber ruber),
also known as Caribbean
flamingos, gather in this
wetland, in northern Camagüey
province, 500 km southeast of
Havana. They arrive from other
points on this and other islands
of the Caribbean, and from
Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula.
Their beautiful plumage ranges
in colour from salmon pink to
flaming red, the result of the
carotenoid pigments in their
diet of invertebrates and algae.
These long-legged birds can
reach a height of 1.2 metres.
''They arrive in mid-April to
build the nests. At the end of
May the chicks hatch, and three
days later the parents return to
their homes of origin, leaving
their offspring in the care of a
group of 'nanny' flamingos,''
explains Alvarez.
The nature preserve's workers
track the process and, in
August, when the season comes to
an end, they collect the weakest
birds that have been left behind
and set up nests for them in a
''quarantine'' area until they
have recovered.
In the end, those birds that
would not be able to survive on
their own are sold to Cuban
tourist enterprises or to other
countries, under authorisation
from the Convention on the
International Trade in
Endangered Species of Flora and
Fauna (CITES).
The drought of 2004, says
Alvarez, caused several nests to
fail, extended the season, and
dried up the spring that
provided water to the flamingos
being raised in captivity. The
solution was to carry water from
the river, bucket by bucket.
The pink flamingo management
plan of the government's
National Flora and Fauna
Protection Agency is
''exquisite'' in the opinion of
Mayra González, director of the
province's environmental
department.
''Twenty years ago we had no
idea what was happening in the
marsh. Nobody knew. Now it is
the best protected area that we
have in terms of implementing
management plans,'' she said.
In 2002, the Máximo-Cagüey marsh
was added to the list of
internationally important
wetlands of the Ramsar
Convention, named for the
Iranian city where the treaty
was signed. The Cuban wetland
covers 22,000 hectares and
serves as a resting area for
migratory birds flying to and
from North, Central and South
America.
The area includes forests,
rivers, swamps, canals, coves,
and coastal lagoons. The
characteristics of the soil and
the material of the local
vegetation provide the only
options for the flamingos to
build their nests.
An extremely fragile
marine-coastal ecosystem, the
wetland holds reproductive sites
for migratory and resident birds
alike, of species endemic to the
Caribbean -- some are
threatened, and all are
ecologically important.
There one can find 'yaguasas'
(similar to small ducks), snowy
plovers, pelicans, ducks, cranes
and, for the first time, in
2004, a stygian owl with two
chicks. The nature preserve's
staff keep track of each and
every nest they find.
Some of the other fauna include
relatively large populations of
American crocodiles (Crocodylus
acutus) and Antillian manatees (Trichechus
manatus), both endangered
species. The refuge is included
in the project for biodiversity
protection in the
Sabana-Camagüey ecosystem, under
way since 1993 with backing from
the United Nations Development
Programme and the Global
Environment Facility.
''In addition to preserving the
area, doing the work of forestry
and reforestation, attending to
the flamingos, ducks and
yaguasas, we have to dedicate
time to protection, to prevent
hunting and fishing,'' explains
Alvarez.
The protected area includes a
classroom for environmental
education and space for various
activities aimed at raising
environmental awareness in the
Mola community, especially
targeting people who have
violated the conservation
regulations.
In addition to the environmental
impacts caused by nearby towns,
the wetland is undergoing a
salinisation process resulting,
in part, from water projects on
the Máximo River, which is
already contaminated.
Experts believe the
contamination would reach the
marsh once the waste treatment
system of an aquaculture company
is implemented. The firm is
blamed for much of the river's
environmental deterioration
since the early 1990s.
''Here everything was sugarcane
and livestock. Now we have this
alternative that helps us a
lot,'' says Raquel Véliz, a
young woman who went from
''doing nothing'' to working at
the wildlife refuge. ''I'm from
here. Born and raised in Mola.''
More than half of the 44 workers
at the refuge are her neighbours,
and the 700 residents of the
community, without means of
transportation or communication,
benefit from the conditions
created in the protected area.
''A bus comes in once a week. So
now we can take our sick people
to the doctor and take care of
the other needs of the
community. Here everyone does a
bit of everything,'' said Véliz.
(*Originally published Feb. 26
by Latin American newspapers
that are part of the
Tierramérica network.
Tierramérica is a specialised
news service produced by IPS
with the backing of the United
Nations Development Programme
and the United Nations
Environment Programme.)
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