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• 11 / 29 / 2008

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Juan Hernandez Valdes, an expert with the National Center of Protected Areas, told the National News Agency (AIN) that the institution is training farmers and residents to take care of those species in the areas where they grow.

He highlighted the work of orchid experts, who preserve and discover new varieties in faraway places like the Sierra Maestra Mountain Range, and monitor endangered species.

Valdes added that deforestation, rural fires and urbanization are major causes of the disappearance of those plants, which can live in sunny or shady places.

There are some 300 species of orchids in Cuba, especially of the Lepanthes family, 90 of which are endemic, Valdes noted.

(PL)