Roberto's IPC 11 Cuban Vision # 1

Interview with Roberto Perez of the The Antonio Nunez Jimenez Foundation for Nature and Man (Cuba’s Foundation for Nature and Man) Proposal for IPC11 2013 (3 Videos) in Cuba to be presented a the IPC10 in Jordan Sept 2011 www.ipcon.org

Founded by the reknown Cuban anthropologist, naturalist, environmentalist and explorer Antonio Nunez Jimenez, the foundation has become a leading player in the search for and implementation of sustainable alternatives for Cuban society. They have accomplished tremendous success in bringing the ecological design insights of permaculture to a widespread movement in Cuba’s cities and rural areas. Their programs include training and capacity building of local permaculture and organic agriculture leaders, development
of recycling and composting programs and support for the national movement of home gardeners and urban farmers.

Roberto Perez Rivero is the Environmental Education and Biodiversity Conservation Program Director of the Cuban NGO, the Antonio Nunez Jimenez Foundation for Nature and Humanity, the oldest environmental organization in Cuba. Mr. Perez has also served as their Project Officer on Urban Agriculture and Environmental Programs, Publishing Editor, and Teacher of Environmental Education, Sustainable Agriculture and Permaculture. He has a Graduate Degree in Biology from the University of Havana and also studied Community-based Resource Management at the University of St. Francis Xavier, Nova Scotia, Canada. Since 1999, Mr. Perez has traveled extensively in Latin America and the Caribbean, Europe, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Southeast Asia, and the United States, presenting Cuba’s approach to sustainable living in the face of declining petroleum and other nonrenewable resources.

In 2006, the World Wildlife Foundation, using a combination of the UNDP Human Development Index (health, education, food and shelter indices) and the Carbon Footprint (carbon use per capita), determined that Cuba was the only nation in the world living sustainably. How did this small, poor island nation achieve this distinction?

Mr. Perez will talk about Cuba’s progress and struggles in sustainable agriculture and sustainable development, especially in the last twenty years since the dissolution of the Soviet bloc. If you have not yet seen the film, The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil, we highly recommend that you view it, prior to attending a presentation. The film is less than an hour in length and is available, in its entirety, at the website below. The first ten minutes focuses on the issue of peak oil in general, followed by 50 minutes of interviews with the Cuban environmental policy makers and practitioners, including Roberto Perez, who have brought about this dramatic evolution toward sustainability in Cuba.: