Cuba to Expand Forest Area Nationwide
News from Cuba | Sunday, 25 August 2013
from the Cuban News Agency
Cuban authorities are making efforts to expand the country"s forest area up to 29.4 percent by 2015
At present, Cuban forests cover 28.66 percent of the country's surface, according to the National News Agency.
The forest program is aimed at encouraging assortments of timber and environmental protective plantations, the source added.
It stated that experts from the Institute for Agro-Forestry Research presented the efforts to meet the needs from Cuban economy in a book published here.
Arnaldo Alvarez and Alicia Mercadet point out in their book, entitled "El Sector Forestal Cubano y el Cambio Climatico" (Cuban forestry Sector and Climate Change), that the goal is to protect waters and soils, not only in watersheds, but also in mountainous areas with a high gradient.
More than 180 species of trees, of which 77 percent are timber trees and the rest are fruit trees, are used in all these programs.
