Global warming threatens Cuba's top beach resort

Cuba's famed beach resort of Varadero is facing severe coastline erosion due to rising sea level caused by global warming, the Cuban News Agency (ACN) reported Monday. The main Cuban vacation destination, which hosts a million tourists annually, is losing from 40,000 to 50,000 cubic meters of sand a year due to erosion, the ACN quoted the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment as saying. Official figures in 2012 indicated that erosion had affected almost 84 percent of the beaches in Cuba. Several Cuban beaches have already been washed away. Cuba is adopting concrete measures to stem erosion in Varadero beaches, such as banning construction on sand dunes, said the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment, which is working with the Tourism Ministry to promote the sustainable management of the resort. One remedy being implemented in Cuba, as in many other parts of the world, is building up artificial beaches by importing sand from other areas. Since 1987, Varadero's 20-km-long coastline has been constructed with 2.9 million cubic meters of sand.