Officials say that the mountains of Manantlán and Rosario “are recognized as sisters.”
EFE (via 14ymedio), Mexico City, July 16, 2025 — Mexico and Cuba signed a collaboration agreement on Wednesday to conserve, protect and study the Sierra de Manantlán Biosphere Reserve in Mexico and the Sierra del Rosario Biosphere Reserve in Cuba, the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (Semarnat) reported.
By signing at the Orquideario de Soroa Botanical Garden in Cuba, Lelieth Feyobe Sandoval, director of the Cuban reserve, and Carlos Alberto Gallegos Solórzano, head of the Mexican Sierra, agreed to “the rebirth of a biocultural family, where the mountains of Cuba and Mexico are recognized as sisters,” according to a statement describing the relationship.
They will study the Biosphere Reserve Youth Network
The Partnership and Action Plan Agreement will seek to cooperate in areas of agro-biodiversity and agricultural production systems; biological corridors and connectivity between natural spaces; studies on climate change impacts; and issues of ecosystem management and services, in addition to working on the Biosphere Reserve Youth Network.
This twinning occurs three decades after the first agreement, symbolizing “the continuity of a shared history and the renewal of a joint commitment to biodiversity, communities, and ancestral and scientific knowledge,” presented by the National Commission of Protected Natural Areas in Mexico.
The setting of the signing also served to raise the importance of mountain areas for the resilience of coastal basins, through the panel ’Ecological research in both Protected Natural Areas (ANP)’.
They raised the importance of mountain areas for coastal basin resilience.
At the Sierra del Rosario Ecological Station, institutional presentation sessions, working tables, collaborative mapping and cooperation agreements were held to establish a common vision of the challenges and opportunities of the spaces.
The Sierra de Manantlán is a biosphere reserve located between Jalisco and Colima (in the west of the country), known for its biodiversity and its wild corn.
For its part, the Sierra del Rosario was the country’s first biosphere reserve, characterized by its tropical ecosystems.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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