News articles on Cuba
Mongabay.com news articles on Cuba in blog format. Updated regularly.
Parrots of the Caribbean: extinction looms in the Bahamas
(10/08/2012) I think about extinction a lot. It’s only natural for someone in my line of work. On my way to work I drive past the Colorado National Monument. Even from a distance it’s impressive: piles of dark schist 1,500 million years old; Wingate sandstone from the age of dinosaurs, all of it formed into cliffs, carved into spires. I can see Independence monument from the highway; a tall tower of tan sandstone that John Otto climbed near the beginning of the 20th century without rope. The monument is a display of the massive changes in the world. I often think about the rainforests and the oceans that once covered the land. Ecosystems have come and gone, the planet destroyed and rebuilt over and over.
Dry forests disappearing faster than rainforests in Latin America
(08/21/2012) Countries across Latin America lost 78,000 square kilometers of subtropical and tropical dry broadleaf forests between 2001 and 2010, according to a new satellite-based assessment published in the journal Biotropica.
Wikileaks Cuba: More U.S. Cynicism on Climate Change
(12/23/2010) As more and more Wikileaks cables become available, a portrait of the U.S. attitude toward climate change is emerging and it is not flattering. In a previous article, I discussed American diplomats’ dismissive views toward Bolivia, a country which has done much to advance a progressive agenda on climate change. In another recently released cable, however, U.S. officials take a cynical view of Cuba. Over the past year or so, the island nation has criticized the U.S. for strong arming other countries when it comes to international climate change negotiations. Joining forces with leftist countries like Bolivia, as well as fellow island countries such as Tuvalu, Cuba has been an irritating thorn in the side of the Obama administration.
Long-ignored freshwater molluscs in Cuba under threat
(06/28/2010) Among biologists, Cuba is famous for its diversity of molluscs with some 3,000 species, including the fact that over 90 percent of its land snails live no-were else. Given this, it's not surprising that Cuba is known as the 'paradise of malacologists' (scientists who study molluscs). However, one type of mollusk has been largely ignored in Cuba: freshwater. A new study in Tropical Conservation Science hopes to remedy that.
Left Must Fine Tune Its Position on Cuba Embargo in Light of Oil Spill
(05/26/2010) With no end in sight to the environmental catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico, some may wonder whether BP’s spill could become truly international in scope. That, at least, is the fear in Cuba where people are worried that strong currents could carry the slick to pristine white beaches along the island’s northern coast. In a rare moment of cooperation underscoring the grave seriousness posed by the BP spill, the U.S. and Cuban governments have been holding talks on the matter.
Savior of endangered crocodiles dies of malaria
(02/25/2010) Crocodile-expert and conservationist, Dr. John Thorbjarnarson, died of falciparum malaria in India on February 14th at the age of fifty-two. While many conservationists work with publicly popular animals like tigers and whales, Thorbjarnarson’s passion was for crocodiles. A Senior Conservation Scientist with the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), Thorbjarnarson proved instrumental in saving both the Orinoco crocodile and the Chinese crocodile from extinction.
Two-headed turtle found in Havana, Cuba
(10/01/2005) A baby two-headed turtle was found in Havana, Cuba on a river bank in the city forest. According to scientists of the local aquarium who inspected the animal, the turtle appears to be in good health.
