Havana, Dec 24 (IANS): A beach resort in Cuba is facing severe erosion of its coastline due to rising sea levels caused by global warming, officials said.
The Varadero resort, one of Cuba's main vacation destinations, which hosts a million tourists annually, is losing 40,000 to 50,000 cubic metres of sand a year due to erosion, Xinhua cited the Cuban News Agency (ACN) 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 by banning construction on sand dunes, said the ministry of science, technology and environment.
One remedy being implemented in Cuba, as in many other parts of the world, is building artificial beaches by importing sand from other areas.