Roberto Perez Rivero is a Permaculturist, educator and sustainability activist in Cuba. In this interview he speaks with Jill Cloutier about how his country faced "Peak Oil" in the 1990's when its petroleum and food supplies dwindled almost overnight. Perez talks about the resilience of Cuba, its transition to a mostly organic agriculture, Permaculture and the upcoming IPC11 www.ipc11Cuba.com to be held in Cuba in November 2013.

A small island nation with 11,000,000 people, struggling with poverty, devastating tropical storms, and the U.S. Embargo, how did Cuba achieve these goals and distinction? What can we learn from Cuba's struggles and successes?

Born in Havana in 1970, Roberto Perez is the Environmental Education & Biodiversity Conservation Program Director of the Antonio Núñez Jiménez Foundation for Nature and Humanity, the oldest environmental organization in Cuba. A graduate of the University of Havana with a degree in Biological Sciences, he later did post graduate specialization in Community Based Natural Resources Management at the University of Nova Scotia, Canada.

Roberto has been part of the Cuban Permaculture movement since its introduction in the country in 1993 after the so called "Special Period", caused by the collapse of the Soviet Union when Cuba lost access to oil, fertilizers, and virtually all trading partners that the small island nation depended on to survive, facing economic collapse overnight. Roberto has traveled extensively presenting Cuba's approach to sustainable living in the face of declining petroleum and other non-renewable resources.

The Eleventh International Permaculture Conference & Convergence (IPC11) in Cuba
www.ipc11cuba.com (in English & Spanish)