Reality Tours> Environmental Protection and Sustainable Development
Cuba : Environmental Protection and Sustainable Development
December 27, 2009
- January 05, 2010
Eco Cuba Exchange invites you to participate in an Environmental Protection and Sustainable Development Research Tour of Cuba. For twenty years, Global Exchange has organized these tours to study Cuba's internationally lauded progress in all fields of sustainable development as it is reflected in all aspects of Cuban life.
In its 2006 Sustainability Index Report, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) determined that there was only one nation in the world that could truly be designated as living "sustainably," and that nation was Cuba. In making this determination, the WWF utilized a combination of the United Nations Development Program's Human Development Index (educational achievement; adequate food; clean, available water; access to health care, etc.) and the Ecological Footprint (or natural resource use per capita) of nations. The ideal, of course is a high HDI and a low Ecological Footprint.
How did Cuba, a small island nation of 11,000,000 people, struggling with issues of poverty, the U.S. embargo, and devastating annual hurricanes, achieve this extraordinary distinction? And what can environmentalists in the U.S. learn from Cuba's struggles and successes?
Throughout the 1960's, 70's and 80's, the Cuban people enjoyed the highest quality-of-life indices in Latin America, rivaling the United States and other countries of the developed world. Cuba was internationally praised as the one developing country that had eradicated hunger and the World Health Organization touted the Cuban health care system as a "model for the world." As early as 1989, Cuba ranked 11th in the world in the Overseas Development Council's Physical Quality of Life Index, (which includes infant mortality, life expectancy and literacy) while the U.S. ranked 15th.
After the setbacks of the 1990's, caused by the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the tightening of the U.S. Embargo, Cuba's quality of life indices did decline slightly for a few years, but then steadily improved. Denied their former imports of petroleum products and pharmaceuticals, Cuba's 35,000 scientists, operating in 200 research institutes across the island, began to explore indigenous and more sustainable ways to meet their food, medicine and energy needs. Extraordinary innovations in organic agriculture and urban gardens earned Cuban agriculturists the Alternative Nobel Prize/Right Livelihood Award; advances in renewable energy including solar, wind, micro-hydro, biogas, and biomass, and island-wide energy efficiency campaigns earned the Cuban NGO Cuba Solar, the UN Global 500 award; and the development of alternative and traditional health care practices earned Cuba recognition by the UN Development Council, as one of the five most important projects in health care internationally.
Cuba was the first nation to complete its biodiversity census after the Rio Earth Summit in 1992; 22% of its land is officially designated "Protected Areas"; it's coral reefs are healthy (Jacques Cousteau used to say that whenever he was in despair about the state of the world's ocean ecosystems, he thought of Cuba and his hope was rejuvenated); and it is one of the few nations in the world to have increased its percentage of forested land in the past several decades.
Cuba models, for the rest of the world, the possibility of obtaining a high quality of life, on a relatively small national budget, while utilizing low levels of the planet's limited resources. This tiny island nation is showing us a possible way to live simply, healthfully, and sustainably on the Earth.
We invite you to travel with us and to see Cuba's accomplishments for yourself!
Program Highlights:
Tour of sustainable development projects in Havana and Old Havana
Tour of sustainable development and environmental protections projects in rural areas
Tour of Protected Bio-Reserves
Meetings with NGOs and Ministries
Urban gardens and farmers' markets
Renewable Energy
Natural and Traditional Medicine
Recycling and Environmental Clean up projects
New Years Eve celebration
Cultural Activities
Small group meetings according to interest
Cost:
$2550 double accommodations, for single add $300
Price Includes:
Round trip air fare, Cancun to Havana; double accommodations; two meals per day; Cuban visa; Full program with guide and translator; Transportation in Cuba (with group).
How to Register:
We would like to receive your application and a non-refundable deposit of $500 by October 31 and your full payment by November 15. A late fee of $50 will be applied to late applications. Payments by Mastercard, Visa or Discover are welcome.
