Excessive tourism
Development is pcoving to be
on Cuban environment
A major bug
msem is the con
of a stone bridge
dw mainland with
on I cays or
rand or sand. "It's
dw immediate
so dw environment
inumm; use' says a
degist- -We are
g swan into the sea
know what
might happen to them during a hurricane of large magnitude."
Though Cuban minister
of tourism, Osmani CieDfuegos insists that "Cuba is
betting on, and in fact
is developing sustainable
tourism," ecologists tend to
have strong reservations. A
report presented to the
Forum of the Organisation
of American States and
the Caribbean on the
Environment warns that
construction of excessive
tourist infrastructure next to
the beaches will break down
the dunes and hinder the
recycling of sand, besides
triggering contamination by
waste products which are not
disposable in the sea.
The example of other
countries is hardly heartening. In several countries, say
Cuban environmentalists,
tourism development has
caused the destruction of
coral reef segments during
the construction of piers and
the budding of new beach
areas in the mangrove zones.
There are other dangers too
of going in for large scale
tourism projects. According
to experts, massive fumigation of mosquitoes and black
flies has eliminated other
insects that till now bad
played an important role in
the pollination of plants and
as food for insect-catirig
birds,(IPS)
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