• Submitted by: admin
• Caribbean
• Ciego de Avila
• Destinations
• Environment
• national
• Business and Economy
• 02 / 10 / 2009

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One of the measures taken in this regard consists on holding the Second Community Festival of the Great Wetland until February 7, on the north side of Ciego de Ávila province. The event aims at determining the state of crane populations and promoting their continued existence in the region.

Students of over a score of primary and secondary schools of the of Moron, Bolivia and Primero de Enero municipalities participate in the festival, which event was organized by the Ministry of Agriculture, as well as the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment.
During the week, the students will not only attend speeches and lectures but also will take part in cultural activities related to the importance of ecosystem conservation for communities.

Yanelis Ferrer Sánchez, an expert in Flora and Fauna at the national level, expressed that in 2001 there were a hundred cranes in El Venero shelter, located north of the province, while last year the figure was increased anywhere between 170 and 180 individuals, which boost is due to the measures taken in the site.

Ferrer also said that during the current festival they will be able to update the reproductive state of the second largest crane population in the Cuban archipelago. The largest dwells the Isle of Youth.

The studies conducted during the festival will also include the nesting places, consanguinity levels and behaviour. These endemic birds are threatened, among other factors, by sicklebush proliferation, which affects their feeding areas, especially silica meadows and grazing lands.

All over the country, specialists of the Flora and Fauna Enterprise, in coordination with other institutions, safeguard over 868 000 hectares bearing great ecosystem value. Those areas spread from high summits and hills to plains, keys and coastal reefs.

(Invasor.cu)