The protection of forest cover in Cuba is a state priority. It is part of the state plan to deal with climate change. The purpose of this paper is to assess the legal risks associated with the protection of forest cover, which is essential to ensure the sustainability of hydrological watershed management in Cuba. The qualitative method of social research was followed. Techniques of content analysis, semi-structured interviews, and legal exegetics were applied. Geographic information system (GIS) and remote sensing techniques were also used to triangulate data and results. This article provided a robust analytical framework for generating innovative laws for land planning through a three-phase methodological design associated with configuring, interpreting, and applying tools for stopping deforestation processes based on watershed management. As a result, it was demonstrated that limitations reveal a deficient legal application with risk in the river basin, and a significant causal relationship between institutions and communities. Furthermore, the study indicated that although there are legal norms that regulate the protection of forest cover in the studied basin, its vulnerabilities generate uncertainty about the foreseeable results in management of forest cover. It is recommended that the Provincial Council of Hydrographic Basins include the design of legal risk indicators for forest cover management into the sub-plan for forest area increase. These recommendations constitute a set of related actions to improve the sustainability of the above-mentioned management.

La investigación diseñó un procedimiento que permitió identificar y evaluar la eficacia jurídica de las normas blandas relacionadas con la contaminación ambiental. Se utilizó un caso de estudio, en la termoeléctrica Antonio Maceo Grajales, Renté, Cuba. Se empleó los métodos generales del conocimiento: histórico–lógico, inducción – deducción y análisis–síntesis. Las técnicas aplicadas fueron el cuestionario, y la revisión documental. Se validó de forma parcial el procedimiento diseñado. Los resultados alcanzados con la validación constituyeron un instrumento de trabajo que permitió la conciliación de decisiones para la gestión ambiental de la termoeléctrica de referencia.