Public Lecture: Bioeconomy and territorial development in Cuba: Opportunities for local agriculture

April 20, 2023 | 11:00 h - 12:30 h

Public Lecture

Title: Bioeconomy and territorial development in Cuba: Opportunities for local agriculture

To be held partly in Spanish and English

Venue: ZEF, Genscherallee 3, 53113 Bonn (Conference room, ground floor)

Presenters:

Prof. Dr. Oliver Frör, Professor for Environmental Economics, Institute for Environmental Sciences and Dean of the Faculty of Natural and Environmental Sciences at the University Kaiserslautern-Landau.

Prof. Dr. Jorge Núñez Jover, Professor and president of the Chair of Social Studies of Science and Technology (CTS+I) at the University of Havana. Academic Coordinator of the Higher Education-Local Development Network of Cuba (GUCID). Advisor of the Superior Council of FLACSO (Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences).

Prof. Dr. Giraldo Martín Martín, Researcher and professor on sustainable agricultural production systems integrating food and energy production, and former director of the Pasture and Forage Experimental Station “Indio Hatuey” at the University of Matanzas

Agenda:

The CUBE project, by Prof. Dr. Oliver Frör (in English)

Territorial development in Cuba, by Prof. Dr. Jorge Núñez (presenting in Spanish, ppt in English)

Circular economy and sustainable agriculture in Cuba, by Prof. Dr. Giraldo Martín Martín (presenting in Spanish, ppt in English)

Opportunities for local agriculture in Cuba, by Prof. Dr. Oliver Frör (in English)

Abstract

The CUBE project focuses on the potential of the bioeconomy to improve the efficiency and sustainability of production processes at the local level in Cuba, where diversified but often insufficiently interconnected small-scale production systems exist. In exploring this potential, attention is paid to social equal opportunities, food security and climate change adaptation, as well as to strengthening small-scale agriculture to contribute to the well-being of the Cuban population. Cuba is particularly well suited to study local aspects of the bioeconomy because, due to the country's long economic isolation and the resulting scarcity and uncertainty in the availability of fossil resources, rural communities face the challenge of making the most of their locally available resources, mostly of biological origin.

Cuba has considerable biomass resources, research and development (R&D) capabilities, numerous small-scale resource recycling experiences, agroecological practices and circular economy experiences carried out with the help of international cooperation and NGO funds. However, until recently, rural communities were largely dependent on central government or institutional strategies and were not sufficiently free in their economic decision-making on investments, leaving many potentials of the bioeconomy untapped. The Cuban government's recent directive to promote territorial development has now opened the possibility for rural communities to further adapt their production processes, especially in the agricultural sector, to their specific socio-economic conditions, needs and potentials. In this framework, the presentation aims to address the opportunities for the transition of Cuba's rural communities towards a modern and adapted circular economy based on biological resources, i.e. a territorial bioeconomy.