Abstract
The most severe economic crisis in post-revolutionary Cuba has forced the country to adopt an austere conservation program. Resource-wise measures have been instituted in the energy, transportation, housing, and agricultural sectors because of a rapid drop in Soviet aid, significant loss of trade with the Eastern Bloc, a halving of oil imports in a one-year period, and stepped-up U. S. sanctions. The economic crisis is also causing negative environmental impacts, in part because pollution abatement projects have been deferred and the tourism industry is being developed to bring in hard currency. However, it is anticipated that many environmentally-sound initiatives will help Cuba through the crisis and will remain in place.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Additional information
Holly Kaufman is an environmental and natural resources project manager, presently working with the Harvard University Global Environmental Change Information Policy Project. She was a Partners in Leadership Fellow at Harvard, where she completed her Masters degree, specializing in international environmental and economic policy and sustainable development. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Conservation of Natural Resources, with highest honors, from the University of California at Berkeley. During her 16-year domestic and international career, she served as the Environmental and Land Use Planning Manager for a waste management company in California, coordinating project teams and managing waste recovery and recycling projects. She also managed the environmental planning and impact analyses for commercial, industrial, transportation, and waterfront development projects at the Port of Oakland. She taught ecological land use planning, sustainable agriculture, and ecosystem management at the California Academy of Sciences and the University of California at Berkeley, served as Coordinator for the San Francisco Mayor's Urban Forestry Task Force and directed a youth employment and public-lands protection program for the San Francisco Conservation Corps. Internationally, Ms. Kaufman has participated in community development projects or conducted conservation policy research in Mexico, Costa Rica, Cuba, China, and Kenya. She has published articles and educational materials on resource conservation in developing countries.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Kaufman, H. From red to green: Cuba forced to conserve due to economic crisis. Agric Hum Values 10, 31–34 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02217838
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02217838