Cuba, US Collaborate in Study of Soil Erosion

Researchers from Cuba and the United States have conducted a sampling campaign in the central region of the island as part of a joint study on soil erosion, one of the leading entities reported today.

The joint project of the Center for Environmental Studies of the central province of Cienfuegos (CEAC) and the U.S. universities of Vermont and Oberlin is included in the scientific exchange agreements approved this year by these institutions.

According to a CEAC press release, nearly 30 sites in Cuba's central geography were sampled, where water and river sediments were collected and evaluated in laboratories.

In the water samples, different physical-chemical parameters were measured, such as pH, dissolved oxygen, conductivity and temperature, characterizing the waters of the monitored rivers.

For the study of the collected sediment, new methods are used to help clarify the background erosive processes, as well as soil losses during the period of intensive agriculture (1959-1991), and later with the development of organic sowing and soil conservation.

Cuban researcher Rita Yvelice Sibello said the campaign served as training for participants from both countries and has created the conditions for the application of erosion study methods in tropical and Caribbean environments.

The results of this study will support the importance of the development of conservation agriculture for the protection of soils from erosion, which will be part of the Life Task -the Cuban State's Plan to combat climate change-, Sibello added.

For their part, U.S. specialists agreed that Cuba can be a catalyst for raising public awareness of the significance of soil conservation.

The CEAC, attached to the Citma, is dedicated to the study and solution of environmental processes and is recognized by the International Atomic Energy Agency as a Regional Reference Center in the application of nuclear techniques for the solution of specific problems of integrated coastal management.