News stories by Ivet Gonzalez, page 2

HAVANA, Mar 06 (IPS) - A new set of regulations to strengthen the maternity rights of working women and encourage people to have children in Cuba were seen as a positive step but not enough, because they do not include measures to encourage more active participation in child-rearing by men.

HAVANA, Feb 01 (IPS) - "You have to have good and varied seeds to test which one adapts best to each kind of soil," says 71-year-old farmer Rubén Torres, who on his farm in central Cuba harvests 1.6 tons of organic beans every year, among other crops.

HAVANA, Nov 15 (IPS) - Cuba's economic difficulties will be aggravated by the uncertainty regarding how U.S. president-elect Donald Trump will deal with the thaw inherited from President Barack Obama.

LOS PALACIOS, Cuba, Oct 26 (IPS) - Protected from the sun by broad-brimmed hats and long- sleeved shirts, workers at the La Juventud fish farm throw fish feed into the tanks for the tilapias, a fish that is scarce and in high demand in the Cuban markets.

HOLGUÍN, Cuba, Jun 28 (IPS) - Five gargantuan modern irrigation machines water the state farm of La Yuraguana covering 138 hectares in the northeastern province of Holguín, the third largest province in Cuba. However, "sometimes they cannot even be switched on, due to the low water level," said farm manager Edilberto Pupo.

HAVANA, May 03 (IPS) - In the past, all rural homes in Cuba had gardens for putting fresh vegetables on the dinner table. The local term for these gardens is "conuco", a word with indigenous roots that is still used in several Caribbean nations.

HAVANA/LA PALMA, Mar 30 (IPS) - The United States has indicated a clear interest in buying organic produce from Cuba as soon as that is made possible by the ongoing normalisation of ties between the two countries. But farmers and others involved in the agroecological sector warn that when the day arrives, they might not be ready.

SANTO DOMINGO, Jan 20 (IPS) - The nearly 7,000 islands and the warm waters of the Caribbean Sea are home to thousands of endemic species and are on the migration route of many kinds of birds. Preserving this abundant fauna requires multilateral actions in today's era of global warming.

SANTO DOMINGO, Jan 11 (IPS) - The recent lengthy drought in the Dominican Republic, which began to ease in late 2015, caused serious losses in agriculture and prompted national water rationing measures and educational campaigns.

SANTO DOMINGO, Jan 06 (IPS) - Environmentally committed journalists in the Caribbean point to a major challenge for media workers: communicating and raising awareness about the crucial climate change agreement that emerged from the 21st Conference of the Parties (COP21) in Paris.