[Orange_County_Permaculture] Cuba Most Sustainable Place on Earth interview with Cuban Permaculturist Roberto Perez-Rivero on KPFK radio Program Focus on Food

[Wesley Roe and Santa Barbara Permaculture Network]

http://www.instituteofurbanecology.org/product/focus-on-food-ep-36-cuba-the-most-sustainable-place-on-earth-with-roberto-perez/#tab-description

Cuba: Most Sustainable Place on Earth interview 
with Cuban Permaculturist Roberto Perez-Rivero on KPFK radio Program Focus on Food 
Hosted by Carter Carter Bo Wallace and Rishi Kumar   Institute of Urban Ecology http://www.instituteofurbanecology.org/ Los Angeles, CA

The Living Planet Report from the World Wildlife Fund in 2007 identified Cuba as the only sustainable country in the world.  The study involved two key parameters for measuring sustainable development, a commitment to "improving the quality of human life while living within the carrying capacity of supporting ecosystems".  Cuba was the ONLY country on earth to achieve satisfactory benchmarks in both criteria for sustainable development.

Formerly importing most of its food, Cuba's agriculture is now 95% organic, with the city of Havana producing over 60% of its own fruits and vegetables within the city's urban spaces.  At the same time, Cuba has been engaging in a massive reforestation campaign, and has invested massively in alternative energy production, with a focus on solar and biofuels.  

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)