Camagüey, April 8.- The tourist destination Playa Santa Lucía, located north of Camagüey, is one of the intervention sites of the investigative project Development of capacities for the implementation of the Nagoya Protocol and the sustainable use of biodiversity for the well-being of the human health in Cuba, coordinated by the Institute of Marine Sciences (ICIMAR) and whose implementation extends from 2024 to 2026.
The province is represented by researchers and specialists from the Environmental Research Center (CIMAC), an institution that is in charge of coordinating in the territory the actions related to the evaluation of the state of the ecosystems of the meadows of this species of seagrass in Saint Lucia and the creation of capacities around its sustainable use.
The project, known synthetically as Thalassia, has the essential purpose of obtaining a pharmaceutical formulation for the treatment of cancer from extracts of Thalassia testudinum, following environmental sustainability criteria.
Other results are linked to the strengthening of the legal framework and the creation of capacities to implement the Nagoya Protocol in the country; evaluate the efficacy and safety of the obtained extract and the formulations through experimental modeling; and promote environmental education about the sustainable use of genetic resources at the level of communities and local actors in the country.
The intervention sites where samples will be collected for study are the Rincón de Guanabo Protected Natural Landscape, in Havana; Santa Lucía beach, in Camagüey; and Playa Larga, in Santiago de Cuba.
The M.Sc. Rebeca González López del Castillo, assistant researcher at CIMAC and who coordinates the project tasks in the province, explained that the choice of Santa Lucía is due to the fact that “probably the largest and best represented Thalassia testudinum meadows in Cuba are there, due to its density, its coverage and its vitality.”
Regarding the benefits of this species, the specialist added that its "excellent neuroprotective, photoprotective and anti-inflammatory properties stand out, aspects that make it an extract with wide use for human health products."
In a recent visit led by Dr.C. Idania Rodeiro Guerra, senior researcher at ICIMAR and head of the project at the national level, worked strategies were drawn up to guarantee the success of the project for the sake of local development and the socioeconomic well-being of the country. Likewise, links were established with the Blue Tourism project, which has been carried out in the province since 2022.
González López del Castillo said that during this scientific exchange, representatives of CIMAC, the CITMA Delegation in Camagüey and the Provincial Delegation of Tourism identified the need to write local development projects with a circular economy approach based on the sustainable use of Thalassia. "The outlets could be in agriculture, as a source of ecological biofertilizers, in the cosmetics industry for the development of soaps, sunscreen or dental creams, as well as for the manufacture of new nutraceuticals with application in biomedicine," she stated.
Also participating in the Thalassia project are the Office of Environmental Regulation and Safety (ORSA), the Marine Research Center (CIM-UH), the Institute of Materials Science and Technology, the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences (FLACSO), the National Center for the Production of Laboratory Animals (CENPALAB), the Directorate of Toxicology and Animal Experimentation (CETEX), the Rincón de Guanabo Protected Natural Landscape in Havana and the Eastern Center for Ecosystems and Biodiversity (BIOECO) in Santiago de Cuba. (Damaris Hernández Marí/ CIMAC researcher and collaborator of Radio Cadena Agramonte) (Photos: taken from https://www.undp.org/es/cuba/ and courtesy of the project)
