ENVIRONMENTAL PROJECTS and PROFESSIONAL RESEARCH
Principles
Returning benefits to the local communities in conjunction with the park authority in order to guarantee the long-term preservation of the cultural and historical heritage as well as the marine resources of the natural area; while providing a humanitarian benefit to persist for generations.
Guaranteeing an efficient, secure and effective management of the marine park operations including limiting the number of visitors, implementing a rotation system of utilization sites and diversifying the options of low impact scientific activities for visitors and researchers.
Overall this will significantly reduce the ecological footprint of the visitor operations while providing resources to continue implementing the essential environmental projects and protections of the marine reserve.
Supporting conservation and innovative environmental projects through an alliance of sound management, advocacy, efficient enforcement and systematic monitoring of the national park through a partnership between governmental, non governmental organizations, and humanitarian focused visitors.
Supporting research, monitoring, conservation and sustainable use projects carried out by Cuban biologists, international scientists and conservationists developing a grassroots community based environmental humanitarian project.
The success of the environmental project and sustainable management program depends on the full participation by each guest. The guest has a duty to actively engage in a full schedule of daily activities in order to foster cooperation while developing an environment of education surrounding the week’s experience in the marine park. The personal initiative to organize and execute daily activities is essential in furthering the success and dynamics of the environmental project making it an enriching and successful venture towards sustainable management and active ongoing education.
The collaborative nature of this multi-cultural experience in the marine park is in an effort to create a program that takes into account a multitude of perspectives pertaining to environmental management and sustainable preservation. Furthermore, the hope is to promote the marine park model as an option in other environmental and humanitarian projects around the world.
The over-arching goal of this project is to strengthen the environmental protections within the marine park while positively benefiting the local communities that rely on it for their sustenance and vocational enhancement. Furthermore, the formal and informal educational scenarios that are fostered by bringing together conservationists, scientists, Cuban guides, biologists, staff and program participants provides a forum for the progress in adult literacy and community based projects.
All of the profits after costs from this program are reapplied to non profit entities and environmental projects to further the research, conservation and patrolling efforts in the Cuban marine parks. These organizations are the cornerstone of making the marine park system possible and it is essential to continually support the sustainable management. This is strictly a non-commercial venture aimed at protecting and preserving the marine park while providing opportunities for humanitarian guests to experience and support this sustainable environmental project.
This project is an endeavor to promote the interaction of Cuban marine biologists, Cuban guides, international travelers, and citizens of the United States. This is in an effort to further the collaborative and sustainable platform through the activities of the environmental and humanitarian projects in the marine parks leading to a well protected and preserved natural area that allows for these projects to not only exist but also flourish for successive generations.