Cuba - Only Country With ‘Sustainable Development’
According to recently released WWF report, Cuba is the ONLY country in the world with “sustainable development”
Here is a blurb:
The WWF includes in its report a graph, which shows two features — the Human Development Index (established by the united nations) and the so-called “ecological footprint” which shows the per person energy and resources consumed in each country.
Surprisingly, only Cuba has passed in both areas, which is enough to be designated a country that “meets the minimum sensitivity criteria”.
This is good news for Cuba, but pretty sad in general. Hopefully this will be a wake-up call for those countries who think they are on the right path.
Cuba’s progress obviously has a LOT to do with having no other choices (once the trade embargo with the US, and the collapse of the Soviet Union cut off most its external trade).
Just found an interesting article (at everything2.com) about Cuba’s organic agriculture ‘revolution’. The last paragraph is very telling in terms of how human nature generally works (notice the my underlining):
Cuba’s future, after the embargo
What does the future hold for Cuba? Presently, Cuba’s organic revolution is going at full speed. There are, however, two schools of thought on the future of organic farming in the country. One group sees organic farming as merely a creative holdover to sustain Cuba until the U.S. trade embargo is lifted. When the embargo is lifted they feel it would be best to return to the previous, intensive, system of agriculture. The second group feels that organic farming should continue indefinitely. They feel it the most efficient way to grow food without destroying the people who grow it and the land it grows on. If the first group succeeds then, the moment the embargo is lifted, U.S. agribusiness will probably flood the Cuban market with cheap food of poor quality and displace many thousands of farm workers, as their jobs will become unnecessary (as it has with other Latin American countries). Alternatively, if the second group wins out hopefully the newly opened market will allow Cuba to export its organic food surplus to Europe and the United States where there is a strong demand for organic foods, thereby strengthening their economy to allow them to continue to be self-sufficient.
Obviously if the first ’school of thought’ group end up getting their way it will have an impact on their stellar sustainability record.
Anyway…
Here is the original news release re: the WWF report: WWF names Cuba only country with sustainable development
And here is the ‘everything2.com’ article: Cuba’s Agricultural Revolution
Technorati Tags: cuba, sustainable development, sustainability, organic agriculture, WWF
Written by Bentley on October 26th, 2006 with
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