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CONSERVATION INITIATIVES IN CUBA

• Introduction
• Biodiversity in Cuba
• Programs and Institutions
• Conservation and Research Organizations in Cuba
• Linking Socio-economic and ecological components of sustainable use of natural resources
• U.S.-Based Collaboration and Travel Restrictions
• Acknowledgements

Introduction

In 1994, SCB passed a resolution establishing the goal of promoting academic and scientific collaboration with Cuba. The objective was to advance conservation of biodiversity and migratory species in eastern North America and the Caribbean. Toward this goal, a group of Cuban organizations and collaborators submitted a bid to host the 2002 SCB annual meeting in Havana. Although the University of Kent was chosen as host, the SCB Board of Governors has decided to explore how SCB can collaborate with Cuban conservation scientists and possibly hold a future annual meeting there. This report includes excerpts from the Cuban proposal, and is intended to introduce SCB members to conservation issues in Cuba and the opportunities that exist for conservation and collaboration. SCB recognizes Cuba's key importance in sustaining the biological diversity of the Caribbean region.

Biodiversity in Cuba

Classified as a unique biogeographical province, Cuba is by all measures the most important country for biodiversity conservation in the West Indies. The 1600 islands of the Cuban archipelago are among the richest areas of endemism in the world. The islands contain 40% of the vertebrate species (628) in the insular Caribbean. The 750 fish species and 3000 other marine organisms found there, as well as broad habitat diversity, make Cuba's marine coastline the most diverse of all Antillean islands. Cuba is also the most important link for migratory birds that travel between the eastern U.S. and Canada and the Neotropics. Over 200 species of Cuban birds have populations whose individuals are shared with various countries in the region. Even the diversity and productivity of coastal lagoons of the southeastern U.S. seem to be linked to the dynamics of Cuban marine communities, which are a source of organisms that colonize these areas transported by marine currents. Cuba is truly a stunning hotspot of biodiversity.

Programs and Institutions

In recent years Cuba has strengthened its conservation infrastructure and increased professional training. Since signing the 1992 Rio de Janeiro Convention on Biological Diversity, Cuba has developed a "National Diagnosis of Biodiversity in the Republic of Cuba" and designed a "National Strategy for Conservation of Biodiversity." These initiatives were linked to the creation of a "National Center of Protected Areas" and a "National Biodiversity Center." Presently, over 60 protected areas are managed as national parks, biosphere reserves, marine protected areas, wildlife refuges, tourism reserves and forest reserves, encompassing close to 15% of the country's area. This year, the Desembarco del Granma National Park, with its large expanses of tropical deciduous forest and coral reefs, was designated a Natural World Heritage Site, joining the list of areas of world-wide significance.

Conservation and Research Organizations in Cuba

Several professional groups and NGOs promote biological research and conservation in Cuba. The two most prominent are ProNaturaleza and the Cuban Society for the Biological Sciences, which are among the largest such groups in Latin America. Sixty educational or scientific institutions collaborate in biological research, including biodiversity inventory. Thousands of graduates from ten universities and institutes work in these institutions. A 1993 study on the state of research and its productivity in Latin America ranked Cuba third, behind only Brazil and Argentina, in the number of researchers per million inhabitants. Cuba has signed at least 30 treaties for conservation of the oceanic, atmospheric, and terrestrial realms, and participates in many international environmental organizations and committees (UNESCO, UNEP, FAO, etc.).

Linking Socio-economic and ecological components of sustainable use of natural resources

Understanding links between population, poverty, gender, health, education, food production, and protection of biodiversity has become important to the conservation community in recent years. Cuba has implemented a series of social and conservation oriented programs that have had success in achieving sustainability in resource use; unfortunately, many of these are unknown in the U.S. For example, Cuba was one of the few countries in the world with a negative deforestation rate during the 1980s. This was achieved through both intensive reforestation and protection of natural forests. For the past three decades, Cuba has had one of the lowest population growth rates in the developing world (0.7 %/year). This has occurred as the infant mortality rate dropped to one of the lowest levels in the western hemisphere (7.2 per 1000) and life-expectancy rose on par with developed countries (75 years). Cuba also achieved one of the lowest rates of poverty-related illnesses in Latin America. These trends are due in large part to the incorporation of women in the workforce, improved education, free health services and contraception, adequate nutrition, sex education, legalized free abortions, and a population decentralization policy. Programs like "Plan Turquino" in the eastern mountains attempt to stabilize land-use patterns and population in rural areas with initiatives that link the use of local resources, improvement of health and educational conditions, and conservation of forests.

The breakup of the Soviet Union in 1989 brought about an economic collapse in Cuba that was far worse than in the U.S. during the Great Depression of the 1930s. From 1989 to 1992, Cuba lost of over 75% of its foreign income and, without hard currency, strategic imports were reduced. With a 50% reduction in oil importation, agricultural production plummeted. Importation of pesticides was reduced by 62% and that of fertilizers by 77%. In general food imports fell more than half--milk and cereals by 70%. When an economic, food and energy catastrophe like this occurs, conservation, considered a luxury by some, becomes a necessity. Cuba survived its economic crisis by diversifying its economy and shifting from international trade to self-sufficiency on some areas. Locally grown or manufactured goods have been substituted for imports no longer available. Organic and low-energy agriculture, vermiculture, biological controls, natural fertilizer and animal traction, along with a modification of agricultural markets, have led the transition. Cuba has undergone what some specialists have called "the largest conversion from conventional agriculture to organic or semi-organic agriculture" and the Cuban NGO of Organic Agriculturalists have received international awards for their work. In addition, Cuba has applied strict energy and resource conservation measures while aggressively developing alternative energy sources (including massive bicycle-based transportation). The government also legalized the use of U.S. dollars, promoted small-scale private entrepreneurship, and encouraged foreign private investment in joint ventures with the state, especially in the area of tourism. Increased poverty resulting from the economic crisis has slowed or reversed some of the previous social and environmental gains. Deforestation has increased and tourist development brought about acute degradation of some coastal areas, but the worst appears to be over. Cuba is far from exempt from the conflicts between environmental sustainability and short-term economic development that are characteristic of poor countries in general, but the way that Cuban society reacts to, analyzes, and addresses them makes the country an interesting case study in "sustainable development."

U.S.-Based Collaboration and Travel Restrictions

Given Cuba's importance, North American organizations are increasingly interested in promoting nature conservation in the country. Some initiatives include those of the Smithsonian Institution, World Wildlife Fund, American Museum of Natural History, The Nature Conservancy, Audubon Society, MacArthur Foundation, Center for Marine Conservation, Center for Conservation Biology, Conservation International, New York Botanical Garden, Association of Systematic Collections, and RARE. The Smithsonian Institution and Interamerican Dialogue have organized discussions on U.S.-Cuban collaboration on the environment. And U.S. universities such as Georgetown, Tulane, and University of Wisconsin-Madison have established joint educational and research programs with Cuban universities at both undergraduate and graduate levels.

Such initiatives are increasing due to recent U.S. government policies promoting direct people-to-people exchanges. Although the U.S. does not permit its citizens to visit Cuba for tourism, travel for non-commercial educational, scientific, cultural, artistic, or sports-related activities is allowed. U.S. citizens (including federal and state employees) can travel to Cuba to attend professional meetings. New direct flights between the U.S. mainland and Cuba have been approved. On the other side, Cuba has no broad travel restrictions for U.S. citizens, but approves travel on a case-by-case basis. These developments aside, cooperation between the two countries on biodiversity conservation in the Caribbean will achieve only limited success until full diplomatic relations are resumed. SCB's 1994 recommendation that the U.S. government "eliminate all restrictions that prevent non-governmental organizations, charitable foundations, and academic institutions from travelling to Cuba and supporting research, education, and conservation projects" has yet to be fully implemented.

Web Pages related to regulations on traveling to Cuba and issues on U.S.-Cuban relations are

www.ustreas.gov/ofac/legal/cuba.html

www.state.gov/www/regions/wha/cuba/index.html

www.cuba.tulane.edu/syl/env.html

www.georgetown.edu/sfs/programs/clas/Caribe/Cuba.htm

www.ciponline.org

Acknowledgements

This report was compiled by Eduardo Santana from the 1994 SCB resolution on conservation of biodiversity in Cuba and a proposal to the SCB Board of Governors to hold a future SCB annual meeting in Cuba. Michael O'Connell and Curt Meine provided important editorial comments. For additional information, contact Eduardo Santana, Instituto Manantlán de Ecología y Conservación de la Biodiversidad, Universidad de Guadalajara-CUCSUR, Apdo. Postal 64, Autlán de Navarro, Jalisco, México C.P. 48900, esantana@cucsur.udg.mx.

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