Search

Cuba has been hit since three years ago by a severe drought that has affected most of the country's municipalities. Response strategies should implement information and communication processes that favor efficiency, articulation, knowledge management and citizen participation. In an approach to community strategies to overcome this situation, the communication and information practices that underlie drought management in selected localities are described. The study was conducted from an interdisciplinary approach between the information and communication sciences. Among the findings, there are strong differences between the infocommunicational activity of community self-organization and the activities of water management actors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this study was to elaborate a strategy of prevention-mitigation-preparation in the floods caused by the overflow of the River Buey due to the occurrence of intensive rains in the municipality Yara (Granma province). The methodologies used were based on the historical-trend analysis of the main elements of the study area, systematic and participatory scientific observation, statistical analysis, and the evaluation of risk, vulnerability and hazard studies. These elements served as a basis for designing a strategy based on forestry, land use and environmental education guidelines, mainly aimed at the conservation of non-structural means affected by floods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The settlement of Puerto de Boniato, in the region of Santiago de Cuba, presents a scenic site. Yet, in recent years the area's environmental qualities have deteriorated, especially those of its natural landscape, something which has affected the quality of life of the inhabitants as well as the influx of tourists to the existing recreation center. This study is based on a diagnosis and evaluation ofthe area's environmental qualities and the potential of its rural landscape for tourism, with a view to proposing a strategy for sustainable environmental management. It draws up a preliminary proposal for the environmental management of the settlement concerned and its surroundings. The preliminary design scheme proposed here has been based on a consideration of the concepts of environment, sustainability and environmental quality, with the aim of improving the quality of life of the settlement's rural inhabitants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]