Could Cuba's Independent Agro-Ecology be a Solution?
A new report from the United Nations released on October 17 brought another dire warning of the catastrophic consequences of climate change, Common Dreams said that day. The report warned that without putting immediate environmental safeguards into place, more than a hundred million more people could be driven into extreme poverty and hunger by 2030.
A potential alternative to the world might be found in Cuba. In 2006, the World Wildlife Fund named Cuba the only country in the world to achieve “successful sustainable development”, in large part due to its sustainable food production.
In Cuba, external conditions — such as the crippling US blockade in place for more than five decades and the collapse of Cuba’s main trading partner, the USSR, in the early 1990s — have compelled Cuban farmers to adopt an independent model of agriculture to feed the population. Not reliant on expensive, imported chemicals, this model has developed into a world leader in sustainability.
Melanie K Reed