It is the second half of April and Cuba is going through a stage considered high-risk in the national forest fire prevention programme, as this month and May have become the most dangerous in terms of the occurrence of this type of fires.
In recent years, according to experts in the containment work, there is evidence of an increase and effectiveness, but it is far from being considered a satisfactory result when it is reported that 90 to 95 percent of the fires registered in wooded areas are due to human negligence, whether it be the inhabitants of these areas or tourists, poachers or illegal beehive castrators.
The circulation of technically faulty vehicles without spark arresters is also a source of fires.
The influence of climate change and global warming, caused by mankind, is a certainty, which in some ways makes these events more frequent in the country in the months mentioned above, as they used to occur in March and April.
In fact, in a nation whose climate is classified as an eternal summer, the greatest occurrences take place in the first five months of the year, although the danger is latent throughout the calendar.
It is obvious that the country is preparing itself conscientiously to reduce this type of phenomenon, but the Achilles heel generated by negligence is too worrying, especially at a time when the economy is challenged by severe limitations, with a lack of essential resources for logistics.
In 2025, despite these difficulties, the campaign includes organisational actions, practical exercises and communication, with the help of the authorities, political organisations and the people’s protagonism.
While progress is being made in management, not only the vigilance and action of the National Forest Ranger Corps is required, but also educational initiatives to create a responsible awareness of the environment and habitats.
Influencing urban developments is not excluded, while at the global level small communities are affected and large cities adjacent to the burning forests are suffering serious damage.
It is obvious that forest fires on the planet have become larger, more intense and longer lasting in recent times, and the Cuban territory is no exception.
This entails losses in vegetation cover, zoological species and economic resources of great importance, as well as the risk to human health and lives.
The fire that occurred in Pinar del Río last February was of great severity, while it was revealed that in 2024, from January 1st to February 24th, 70 forest fires occurred, affecting 161,55 hectares of forest. Negligence is the main cause.
In the current month combined forces of the Forest Guard Corps (CGB) in the westernmost of the provinces and workers of the agricultural system are fighting three fires, the largest of which, originating in the area known as El Arenal, in Minas de Matahambre, is out of control and has already affected some 1,200 hectares of forest.
Cuba’s forests, which cover a little more than 22.88 per cent of the national territory, so often sung about in poetry and music, deserve a rigorous and detailed joint effort by society as a whole.
The groves are beautiful, where it rains frequently and the humidity and freshness of the weather seem to reign, and which are home to singing and colourful birds, among the most beautiful in the world, within a richly biodiverse flora and fauna, possibly unparalleled in the Caribbean.
The evergreen tropical rainforest dominates, and the pine forests are magnificent, although there are other variants such as the cloud forests. It is everyone’s duty to take care of them (Marta Gómez Ferrals, ACN).
