Successful legacy of community project in Ciénaga de Zapata

BY ROBERTO J. HERNÁNDEZ (ACN)

The creation of new jobs and the adoption of practices that favor the quality of life together with the protection of nature are among the main benefits of a local development project to transform community groups in Ciénaga de Zapata.

Leyaní Caballero, coordinator of the project, highlighted its inclusive character, when favoring the participation of the inhabitants of the territory, the largest wetland of the insular Caribbean, in the preservation of valuable natural resources through friendly jobs with the environment.

The expert remembered that the project Transformation for the local development of little community groups in the Biosphere’s Reserve Ciénaga de Zapata was developed between 2015 and 2017, although its positive impact remains up to date.

«17 new jobs were created as well as community arboretums to contribute to reforestation. We develop agro ecological farmsteads and yards and also train the inhabitants for the design, elaboration and set-up of signaling for this Protected Area, Leyaní explained.

The also specialist of the Environmental Services Center pointed out that the Project established the bases in order that the inhabitants of the wetland continue today with their preparation in themes such as the rational use of water and ecological sanitation.

«Today, the delivery of seeds to producers of the Biosphere’s Reserve continues, something very important after the flooding provoked by the subtropical storm Alberto this year», said, Leyaní, who is also a Master of Sciences.

Caballero emphasized that several women who are involved in the project participate in activities such as craftsmanship, sale of agricultural products and cultivation of plants, which transcends as part of the legacy of the Project financed by the nongovernmental Swiss organization Zunzún. (Translated by Roxana Ros Pelayo)