Por Redacción TV Yumurí 
Cuba celebrates today, Wednesday, the Day of Protected Areas with significant advances in the development and consolidation of instruments for the conservation of these spaces, which are home to great biological diversity.
Data from the Planning Department of the National Center for Protected Areas indicate that the island has 215 protected areas, such as the Alejandro de Humboldt National Park, also considered a World Heritage Site.
They occupy 21.26 percent of the country’s surface, including areas of the so-called marine island platform, and they also have eight management categories: nature reserve, national park, ecological reserve, outstanding natural element, wildlife refuge, and managed floristic reserve. , protected natural landscape and protected area of managed resources.
Conceived with the purpose of favoring the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, forest heritage and other wealth, they show a high representativeness of Cuban fauna and flora, reaching levels of endemism above 95 and 85 percent, respectively.
Cuba has six biosphere reserves: Guanahacabibes, Sierra del Rosario, Ciénaga de Zapata, Buenavista, Baconao and Cuchillas del Toa, international recognition conferred by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco).
The functions of this denomination lie in promoting the conservation of biodiversity and cultural diversity, sustainable economic and social development, research, environmental education, and the active presence of local communities in the planning and management of the area where inhabit.
93 years ago, the first Pico Cristal National Park was established in the eastern region, with Cuba being the fourth country in Latin America to issue a regulatory provision to create a protected area of this type.
According to experts, protected areas have a very important value in development, since if they are managed correctly they offer both economic and social benefits, since they improve the well-being of the population, promote values such as recycling and respect for nature, and produce more renewable energy.
For this reason, in many countries, developed or not, a sustainable economy based on the use of local natural resources is increasingly promoted.
Protected areas contribute to regulating the climate, the water cycle, conserving biodiversity and its biological control, among many other benefits, so taking care of them guarantees the continuity of species and the future of new generations. (ALH)
Translated by Casterman Medina de Leon