The History of Eco Cuba Network
Environmentalists, like migratory birds, sea creatures, and ocean waves, know no political borders! We are one huge, dynamic ecosystem. One planet, one ocean, one world, one people, working together, with all living beings, to preserve and protect our beautiful planetary home.
AGROECOLOGY Conference, November 2011
The 25 year old project that was to become Eco Cuba Network, a project of Green Cities Fund, organized it's first environmental Cuba delegation in 1993! In those days, Cuba was just figuring out how to adjust to the "special period" brought on by (1) the collapse of the Soviet bloc with its subsidies and preferential trade options that had helped to support the Cuban economy and (2) the deliberate tightening of the US embargo imposed by the US Congress.
The founders of Eco Cuba Network became intrigued with the steps Cuba was taking toward self sufficiency and began organizing research tours to Cuba based on Cuba's approach to environmental protection and sustainable development. We have organized research programs for thousands of US citizens to study Cuban organic agriculture and urban gardens; renewable energy and energy efficiency; social welfare; natural, traditional and bioenergetic medicine; and environmental protection. It has been an eye-opening and ever-evolving journey! And our excitement has always been buoyed by the enthusiasm of the many experts who have accompanied us on these investigations.
Over the years we developed relationships with many Cuban organizations and individuals involved in Cuba's overall policies and practice in sustainability. These relationships serve the participants on our Eco Cuba Network delegations well and lead to ever more exciting interchange and collaboration.
April 2011 Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency delegation, Havana and Pinar del Rio
Find out more about Eco Cuba Network in the US.
Find out more about Eco Cuba Network in Cuba.
Below is a list of our environmental delegations to Cuba during the last five years, as well as three US speaking tours of Cuban environmentalists, organized by ECN and members of our Network.
2015 Eco Cuba Network Delegations
Sustainable Agriculture in Cuba: Environmental and Social Dimensions / Antioch University New England
March 10 – 20, 2015
Environmental Justice in Cuba:
A Study of Cuba's Environmental and Social Policy and Practice
April 20 – 29, 2015
Cuba: A Holistic View of Environmental and Social Sustainability
May 5 – 14, 2015
Environmental Protection and Sustainable Development in Cuba/International Conference at Cuban Ministry of Science, Technology and the Environment
July 6 – 10, 2015 Extended Program: July 3 – 12
Social Welfare and Public Health in Cuba / Saint Louis University
August 2 – 15, 2015
Sustainable Agriculture and Food Sovereignty in Cuba / Santa Clara University
September 4 – 17, 2015
Sustainable Agriculture Rooted in Community
Nature's Friends
October 2 – 11, 2015
Social Welfare in Cuba: A Holistic View of Sustainable Environmental and Human Development /
National Association of Social Workers, Midwest Region
October 31 – November 8, 2015
Mar Cuba 2015: Tenth Biannual Marine and Coastal Science Conference
November 16 – 20, 2015
Havana, Cuba
Extended Program:
November 12 – 22
Havana and Ciénaga de Zapata, largest wetlands in the Caribbean, Matanzas Province
2014 Eco Cuba Network Delegations
Intersections of Agricultural and Social Welfare Systems in Cuba/Warren Wilson College
January 6 – 18, 2014
Women to Women: A US – Cuba Dialogue on Sustainable Social, Economic and Environmental Systems
Women's Democratic Club of Monterey County
February 23 – March 6, 2014
Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency in CUBA/
Eleventh International CUBA SOLAR Conference
Havana, Varadero Beach, and Pinar del Rio province
April 17 – 27, 2014
Sustainable Agriculture and Food Sovereignty
Santa Clara University
September 5 – 18
Living with Karst in Cuba
December 5 – 16, 2014
2013 Eco Cuba Network Delegations
Intersections of Agriculture and Social Welfare Systems
January 2013/Warren Wilson College, NC
Sustainable Agriculture and Environmental Protection
January 2013/Antioch University New England
Environmental Protection and Sustainable Development Conference/CITMA
July 2013/Evergreen College
Social Welfare in Cuba: a Holistic View of Social and Environmental Sustainability
October 2013
Agroecology Conference
November 2013
11th Biannual International Permaculture Convergence
November-December 2013
Culture and Sustainability
December 2013
2012 Eco Cuba Network Delegations
Environmental Protection and Sustainable Development, Benedictine University / March 2012
Sustainable Development with Focus on Agriculture / March-April 2012
Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency/Cuba Solar Conference April 2012
Environmental Protection and Sustainable Development May 2012
Cuban Women in Sustainable Development October 2012
Sustainable Agriculture and Urban Gardens November 2012
Roberto Perez of the Antonio Núñez Jimenez Foundation for Nature and Humanity (second from left) with environmentalists Jesse Lipman, Luanna Peterson and Ken Koike in Oahu, Hawaii, during Roberto's speaking tour, June 2012.
2012 Eco Cuba Network Speaking Tours
Roberto Perez Rivero, Foundation for Nature and Humanity, June 2 – 30, Oahu, Hawaii and Los Angeles, CA
Eco Cuba Network delegation visiting with Miguel Salcines, Director of the Alamar Organiponico, the largest urban garden in Havana, April 2011
2011 Eco Cuba Network Delegations
Environmental Education, February 2011
Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency, April 2011
CITMA Conference on Environmental Protection and Sustainable Development / for Bainbridge Graduate Institute and Presidio Graduate School, July 2011
Cuban Women in Sustainable Development, October 2011
Sustainable Agriculture and Urban Gardens /AgroEcology Conference, November 2011
* * * * *
2011 Eco Cuba Network Speaking Tours
Roberto Perez Rivero, Foundation for Nature and Humanity, March 31 – April 8, San Francisco Bay Area and Northern California
Cuban Women and Sustainable Development, October 2011 and 2012
2010 Eco Cuba Network Delegations
Environmental Protection and Sustainable Development, February 2010
Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency/CUBA SOLAR Conference, April 2010
ACTAF conference/Sustainable Agriculture and Urban Gardens, May 2010
Environmental Protection and Sustainable Development, June 2010
Sustainable Agriculture and Urban Gardens, May and November 2010
* * * * *
2010 Eco Cuba Network Speaking Tours
Mario Arrastia Avila, CUBAENERGIA, a department of the Cuban Ministry of Science, Technology and the Environment, CITMA, September 15 – 22, 2010
2009 Eco Cuba Network Delegations
CITMA Conference on Environmental Protection and Sustainable Development, July 2009
XIII International Conference on Marine Science and Coastal Ecology, October 2009
Wetlands Conference in Cienaga de Zapata, largest wetlands in the Caribbean, November 2009
Cuba travel for Eco Cuba Network tours is arranged by a licensed Cuba Travel Service Provider, with over 20 years experience arranging Cuba travel for professional, educational, cultural, and "people to people" delegations to research every aspect of Cuban life.
Eco Cuba Network is a project of Green Cities Fund.
