ÁREA PROTEGIDA DE RECURSOS MANEJADOS SIERRA DEL CHORRILLO

Description. A protected area in the western part of eastern Cuba, one of the more biodiverse areas of the country. Extent 4115.26 ha. Established in 1999. Administered by the Empresa Nacional para la Protección de la Flora y la Fauna, Cuba.

Biodiversity. Numbers of species recorded in the management plan: Animalia, 201; Bacteria, 0; Chromista, 0; Fungi, 0; Plantae, 384; Protozoa, 0. Numbers of endangered species: Animalia, 35; Bacteria, not known; Chromista, not known; Fungi, not known; Plantae, not known; Protozoa, not known. Lists of animals and plants of the protected area are included in the management plan.

Problems. Habitat alteration and impoverishment of the fauna of the area. Poor understanding of the dynamics of populations and biological communities, especially in the case of endemics, rare or endangered species, and species with reduced distributions. A lack of specialists available to contribute to adequate management of living and non-living resources of the area. Deficiencies in the water supply, and in general supplies and personnel transportation within and beyond the area. Absence of any plan to have guides and wardens on the area. Absence of any programme for environmental education. Insufficient equipment to protect the area and its surroundings. Inadequate funding in hard currency. Insufficient infrastructure to support tourism. Inadequate contacts with national green tourist agencies. Insufficient means for fire fighting on the area.Insufficient knowledge of ecological processes in the area. A lack of environmental awareness in local communities. Absence of effective programmes of environmental education up to 2000. Lack of teachers to implement environmental education. Illicit hunting. Inadequate signposting of the protected area. Under-development of green tourism. Insufficient infrastructure to enable implementation of the management plan. Insufficient resources to realize conservation projects.

Project work. A 158 page management plan was produced with support from the Darwin Initiative project Biodiversity Conservation in Cuba.