HAVANA, June 4 (NNN-ACN) — Only during the first five months of the year, the Cuban Forestry Corps (CGC by its Spanish acronym) has registered 290 fires, most of them concentrated in five territories of the country.
Pinar del Rio with 97, special municipality of Isle of Youth 44, Matanzas 33, Cienfuegos 24 and Artemisa 22 top its black list, according to a report from its Fire Management Department, provided to the Cuban News Agency.
The affected areas in the nation from January to last May amount to 9,456.98 hectares, a considerable part of which are planted forests and the rest natural.
The new campaign of the CGC, one of the institutions of the Ministry of Interior, is about to conclude with the coming of the rainy season and has been characterized by practical exercises and various communication initiatives, in conjunction with groups of the central administration of the State, political, mass and social organizations, with the leading role of the people.
It has always insisted on the need to increase the risk perception of the population, the preparation and coordination among the responsible forces and to maximize the prophylactic measures by means of more intentional communication messages in all cases.
In general, their causes are due to drought, the accumulation of combustible material, the impact of other meteorological phenomena, climate change and negligence in fire management, which makes it necessary to be proactive and adopt the necessary measures to prevent the nation from the millions of dollars in damages, environmental and human health impacts that they can cause.
One of its initiatives consists of prioritizing integrated work with the CGC, actions to raise awareness among producers and the population of agricultural areas about the causes of these events, increasing control measures, the role of inspectors and the identification of prone areas, which will make it possible to prevent the negligence that accounts for 95% of the fires.
The latter occur mainly due to burning for different purposes, irresponsible smokers and passers-by, the circulation of vehicles with technical defects (without spark killers), poachers and fishermen, and illegal beehive castrators. — NNN-ACN
