In the early 1990s, Cuba's capacity to provide for the basic needs of its people was shaken by two factors:

• the disintegration of the Soviet bloc, which had accounted for over 75 percent of Cuba's trade;
• the tightening of the U.S. embargo, which prohibits trade with Cuba, including trade in food and medicine.

Yet since the economic crisis that began in 1989, the Cuban government has been unable to provide enough of basic necessities. Lack of diesel fuel, lengthy electrical power outages, shortages of pharmaceuticals, toiletries, and basic foods became all too common in Cuba. Recurrent tropical storms, such as the October 1996 Hurricane Lili, exacerbated the already difficult situation.

To address the critical shortages, Cuban farmers, doctors and scientists have turned to a variety of traditional, alternative and renewable technologies in the production of food, medicine and energy in order to achieve a sustainable economy. The decision to move in the direction of sustainable development reflects both the Cuban government's desire to achieve a more self-sufficient economy and Cuba's international leadership in the movement to protect the global environment.

A unique combination of factors positions Cuba as a potential model for many developing countries in the area of sustainable development.

With just 2 percent of the population of Latin America, but 11 percent of the scientists, Cuba has the human talent necessary to achieve its sustainability goals. And Cuba's scientific community enjoys an unprecedented level of government support. Plus, the profit motive plays only a limited role in Cuban agriculture, healthcare and energy: thus greed is far less of a motivator than are society-wide needs of sustainability. Finally, national economic planningÑdespite its many flawsÑgives Cuba the capacity to implement prioritized policies and practices island-wide.

Cuban agronomists, doctors and scientists have asked Global Exchange to become partners with them in their effort to achieve sustainability. What follows is an introduction to several of the projects we are focusing on, and ways you can get involved.

I. SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE
Before the economic crisis of the early 1990s, Cuba provided all children under the age of fourteen with one liter of dairy milk per day. Now it can only provide milk for children under seven years of age. The government's new goal is to provide soy yogurt for the children 7-14. Since the spring of 1994, a team of top Cuban engineers and food scientists has managed to refurbish 30 dairy factories to produce soy yogurt, with 10 more to be converted by early 1997.

A major economic drawback is that almost all of the soybeans are presently being imported. Cuban technicians feel they could reduce the cost of producing their soy foods by 75 percent if they could develop the capacity to grow their own using seed varieties suited to Cuba's soils and climate. Global Exchange is helping Cuban scientists with the information, technology and financial resources for inputs they need to develop an indigenous soybean seed bank. The seed bank will provide small farmers and cooperatives with seed which they can then plant and harvest to supply the 10,000 tons of soybeans needed annually by the Cuban soy foods factories.

Dr. Tom‡s Guzm‡n de Hernandez, vice director of Institute for Basic Research in Tropical Agriculture (INIFAT) which oversees the soy project, is also a co-founder of the Cuban Association of Organic Farmers. His model for the future of soy agriculture in Cuba includes many small farms, located close to the soy factories they serve, growing the soy beans organically.

Support for the Cuban Association of Organic Farmers Due to the severe shortage of hard currency for the importation of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, Cuba has been forced to practice organic agriculture on a nationwide scale, with some very exciting results. There are currently 30,000 organic urban gardens in Havana alone and an estimated 1,000,000 across the country.

Global Exchange and the Institute for Food and Development Policy organized the first U.S. delegation to Cuba focused on sustainable agriculture. We co-authored the seminal book on the subject, The Greening of Cuba. We have since organized many delegations of professors and practitioners of organic agriculture to Cuba, who have developed exchange programs through their universities and communities. These relationships are now proliferating, with scientists and farmers expanding their own joint projects between the U.S. and Cuba.

II. ALTERNATIVE AND TRADITIONAL MEDICINE
For decades, Cuba's system of public health has been praised internationally by the World Health Organization and other international bodies. Cuba achieved the best health indicators in Latin America Ñthe lowest infant mortality rate and the highest life expectancyÑstatistics that rival and surpass those in the developed world. Yet Cuba's recent economic woes have had a devastating impact on the public health system, especially in importing pharmaceuticals and spare parts for medical equipment.

The Cuban Ministry of Public Health has made a major commitment to the full integration of alternative and traditional practices into its entire public health system: in research, medical school training, family doctor clinics, tertiary care hospitals, as well as the local pharmacies where "green" medicines are now readily available.

Support for Cuba's Centers for Holistic Medicine
Global Exchange supports Cuba's Centers for Holistic Medicine, which research and practice Chinese traditional medicine (acupuncture, acupressure, Chinese herbology), homeopathy, mind-body relaxation techniques, hydrotherapy, chiropractic and traditional Cuban herbal medicine. We have supported the Centers' efforts during the past year, providing them with literature, experts and material supplies.

In April 1996, Global Exchange organized a delegation of U.S. doctors, directors of holistic medicine clinics and other health professionals to conduct an assessment of Cuba's successes and needs in this area. The delegation met with the Cuban agencies devoted to various alternative treatments. It visited the Gir—n Medical School, which has pioneered the introduction of these techniques into Cuban medical school training; a dental clinic and training center using alternative and traditional techniques; a health spa; pain clinics; laboratories for the study of the psycho-social aspects of health; and other centers in which the techniques are being integrated into conventional medical practice. The members of the delegation now work with Global Exchange in helping to meet Cuba's material and intellectual needs in this promising field.

Education on Diet and Disease
Global Exchange is working with the Committee for the Prevention of Cancer through Dietary Modifications at the National Cancer Institute in Havana on the development of educational materials on the topic of diet and disease. Global Exchange has assisted the Committee in producing 30-minute videos and slide programs on the issue, and these are now being used in a series of workshops for physicians and other health workers. We have provided the Committee's directors with intellectual, managerial and technical resources. We have secured invitations for Dr. Gilberto Fleites, director of surgery at the cancer hospital in Havana, to attend conferences in the U.S. and other countries on the subject. We also support Cuba's Vegetarian and Wellness Centers that promote vegetable and grain-based diets, organic foods, exercise and anti-stress activities such as yoga and meditation.

III. RENEWABLE ENERGY
Since the fall of the Soviet Union, which had provided Cuba with oil for all of its energy needs, energy has become the number one problem constricting Cuba's growth. Cuba is producing some of its own oil, but only a fraction of what it needs. A Soviet-sponsored nuclear power plant near Cienfuegos remains $1 billion short of completion and has suffered long delays in construction. Cuban scientists claim that Cuba could meet all of its energy needs using renewable methods if they had sufficient capital for research and development.

Support for CUBASOLAR
Global Exchange has formed a partnership with CUBASOLAR, Cuba's foremost non-governmental organization promoting renewable energy projects utilizing wind, hydro, biomass conversion, and solar energy. Global Exchange arranged for a world-renowned expert in biomass conversion to visit Cuba to discuss an advanced technology for converting sugar cane bagasse to electricity. The scientist believes that the Cubans, with appropriate technology, could meet all of their electricity needs from the sugar cane bagasse alone. As a result of the meeting, this expert helped the Cubans write a successful grant proposal to the United Nations Development Program for $350,000 to conduct a pilot project in biomass conversion in Cuba.

After the success of this first networking effort, GX organized a delegation of alternative energy experts to attend an international conference on renewable energy in Cuba in June 1996. The delegation, hosted by CUBASOLAR, was taken on many site visits to solar, wind, mini-hydro and biomass conversion projects in Havana and throughout eastern Cuba. These U.S. experts have formed an advisory committee which now seeks to help Cuba meet its material and intellectual needs in this area.

Solar Panel and Wind Turbine Installations
One project involves the installation of solar panels on the roofs of family doctor clinics in the remote parts of Cuba, to provide at least some electricity to the 4 percent of the Cuban population not already on the electricity grid. This project enables the clinics to refrigerate medicines and to be used as community centers where people can gather for educational workshops, television, and cultural events. Global Exchange hopes to provide CUBASOLAR with funds for the installation of solar panels on family doctor clinics in several remote communities, thereby bringing electricity to thousands of rural people who might otherwise suffer compromised health due to their extremely remote locations.

Schools for Renewable Energy
Global Exchange supports CUBASOLAR's efforts to develop model alternative energy vocational schools and community colleges throughout Cuba. The cost of refurbishing the schools and equipping them with the curriculum basics is $10,000 per school. These prototype schools can serve as models for the entire country but they need material assistance to fulfill their great potential.

Computer Collection
We received a formal request from CUBASOLAR to collect used computers, modems and printers in the U.S. for the hundreds of research centers across Cuba developing technologies in renewable energy.

The dozens of computers we have taken to Cuba have not only helped in this sector, they have also proved vital to the functioning of medical facilities and research institutions across the country.

Rescuing the Almendares River
A team of young Cuban engineers has asked Global Exchange to help them in their work cleaning up the Almendares (Havana's largest river), utilizing primarily biological controls. One half of Havana's sewage flows into this river and only a small percentage of the waste is treated. This creates a public health hazard, particularly for the communities that live along the river. Havana's only large sewage treatment plant broke down several years ago; another unfinished plant awaits completion. The engineers favor the installation of many small-scale treatment plants and biological methods of control, but they need material and informational assistance to move forward. The scientific team is also working to convince factory management along the river to either relocate or to invest in new technology that is more environmentally benign.

The river cleanup project is part of a larger program to develop a Metropolitan park in the 400 square kilometers that comprise the river's watershed area, from its mouth at the Atlantic Ocean inland for seven kilometers. The Metropolitan park, a long-time dream of city planners, includes plans for reforestation, organic agriculture, a vegetarian restaurant, reclamation of buildings for purposes of environmetnal education, recreation and other community activities.

The team, which includes sociologists as well as scientists, has devoted considerable time to raising environmental awareness among the people who live in the area, holding educational workshops, and setting up community-based water monitoring systems. "Without the participation of the people who live here, we cannot move forward," they say.

This is the most significant river clean-up project in Cuba. There is still time to rescue the Almendares before Havana's aquifers are contaminated. Global Exchange is eager to work with these idealistic young engineers in a rescue effort that would not only save an important natural resource affecting thousands of local residents but would also provide important lessons for other clean-up efforts in Cuba and around the world.

Get Involved in Positive Alternatives
At a time when the world seems to hurtle from one crisis to another, it is important for us to focus on places where people are building positive alternatives to greed and environmental destruction.

Why not get involved in this broad campaign to support ecological development in Cuba? You could organize a showing of our video, Soy Cubano, listed on the next page. To explore other ways you can help or if you just want more information, please e-mail us by clicking here or call our Cuba program at (800) 497-1994 or

CLICK HERE to find out more about our trips to Cuba.