USA/CUBA – The rehabilitation and replanting of mangrove forests in Cuba’s coastal regions is helping to protect the lives of people living on the Caribbean island, and reduce the effects of climate change, thanks to a UN Development Programme project.
Mangroves not only provide a habitat for fish and other sea life that local communities eat, but also reduce the effects of rising tides and extreme weather that will become more intense with climate change.
In Cuba, the loss and damage over several decades to mangroves, which are typically found on 70 percent of its coasts, has made coastal communities increasingly vulnerable.
Read more here about coastal communities are using mangroves as a cost-effective way to protect the land and their future; and to find out more about conservation efforts, see the International Day for the Conservation of the Mangrove Ecosystem, celebrated annually on 26 July.