This highly original volume investigates and documents the complex interactions between small family farms and Man and Biosphere Reserves in Cuba.
Covering over two decades of research in agriculture and biodiversity conservation in Cuba, this book provides a unique case study about sustainable agriculture. It shows how the agricultural biodiversity maintained in situ by family farms within those protected areas provides a strategic source of crop genetic resources, including seeds and planting materials, as well as agroecological knowledge and practices. Agricultural practices within and around the Biosphere Reserves have helped to promote local food security through healthier and more diverse food production, while contributing to the conservation of biodiversity and of ecosystems. The book also reports on the adoption of transdisciplinary methods, combining ecological, agronomic, and socio-economic research, along with participatory methods involving farmers in research to document ethnobotanical and farmer knowledge, revealing rich spots of agrobiodiversity maintained in landscapes, seed systems, and nurseries managed by farmers. It covers a range of ecosystems and biocultural landscapes from arid tropics, tropical hillsides and savannas, montane rainforests, and coastal areas. It examines how family farms in diverse Cuban ecosystems use biodiversity, agro-ecological knowledge, and techniques while sustaining natural and farming landscapes in a scenario of climate change, frequent disasters, and socio-economic and policy changes.
This book will be most suitable for those studying or interested in farming practices, biodiversity conservation, food security, agrobiodiversity, and sustainable development, as well as in Cuban studies.
This highly original volume investigates and documents the complex interactions between small family farms and Man and Biosphere Reserves in Cuba.
1. The Cuban Archipelago: Biological diversity, ecosystems and
landscapes
José Manuel Guzmįn Menéndez
2. The System of National Reserves in Cuba: Conserving biodiversity and
ecosystem services
Carlos Gallardo Toirac, Augusto de Jesśs Martķnez Zorrilla, José Augusto
Valdés Pérez and Dalia Salabarrķa Fernįndez
3. The western mountains: The Sierra del Rosario Biosphere Reserve
Fidel Hernįndez Figueroa, Jorge Luis Zamora Martķn and Damaysa Arzola
Delgado
4. The eastern mountains: Cuchillas del Toa Biosphere Reserve
Gerardo Begué-Quiala, Geovanys Rodrķguez Cobas, Hayler M. Pérez Trejo and Rey
F. Guarat Planche
5. The lagoons: Peninsula de Guanahacabibes Biosphere Reserve
Lįzaro Mįrquez Llauger, José Alberto Camejo Lamas, Osmani Borrego Fernįndez
and Lįzaro Mįrquez Govea
6. On the edge of Sierra Maestra: Baconao Biosphere Reserve
Giraldo Acosta Alcolea
7. Natures Matrix: The quality of managed and natural landscapes
Ivette Perfecto and John Vandermeer
8. The background of international projects on agrobiodiversity in Cuba
Leonor Castińeiras, Tomįs Shagarodsky, Pablo Eyzaguirre and Toby Hodgkin
9. Measuring farm environmental sustainability in the Sierra del Rosario
Biosphere Reserve
Gaia Gullotta, Nadia Bergamini, Paola De Santis, Alejandro Gonzįlez Įlvarez,
Jorge Luis Zamora Martķn, José Manuel Guzmįn Menéndez, Nicola Tormen and
Enrico Ruzzier
10. Ecosystem services in agrobiodiversity and family farms: Indicators of
social and ecological resilience
Alejandro Gonzįlez Įlvarez, Nadia Bergamini, Dunja Mijatovic and Yanisbell
Sįnchez Rodrķguez
11. Family farms as innovative living labs in agroecology and transfer of
knowledge
Madeleine Kaufmann, Alejandro Gonzįlez Įlvarez, Alberto Tarraza and
Alessandra Giuliani
12. The conuco in Cuban agricultural systems and its contribution to
agrobiodiversity
Alejandro Gonzįlez Įlvarez, Parviz Koohafkhan and Tomįs Shagarodsky
13. Urban agriculture: A view from Cuba
Noel J. Arozarena Daza, Yanisbell Sįnchez Rodrķguez, Maribel Gonzįlez-Chįvez
Dķaz and Juan A. Soto Mena
14. Cubas farming market: Opportunities for development
Michely Vega León, Luis Sįez Tonacca, José Puente Nįpoles and Maribel
Gonzįlez-Chįvez Dķaz
15. Valorisation of products and services from Biosphere Reserves of Cuba
Maribel Gonzįlez-Chįvez Dķaz, Michely Vega León, Luis Sįez Tonacca and
Yanisbell Sįnchez Rodrķguez
16. Voices of the farmers: Representations of sustainable farming and
agrobiodiversity
Celia Cabrera Ibįńez, Alejandro Gonzįlez Įlvarez, Lįzaro Lorenzo Ravelo and
Zoraida Mendive
Urbano Fra Paleo is a retired Professor of Human Geography from the University of Extremadura, Spain. He is a member of the European Science and Technology Group (E-STAG), United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR); Honorary Research Fellow of the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT, Senior Research Fellow of the Earth System Governance Project, and Member of the Academia Europaea.
Leonor Castińeiras is a biologist with a PhD in Agricultural Sciences. She worked as Scientific Researcher leading the Plant Genetic Resources Unit at the Instituto de Investigaciones Fundamentales en Agricultura Tropical Alejandro de Humboldt (INIFAT) in La Habana, Cuba. She has coordinated various international projects in partnership with Bioversity International (formerly IPGRI) on the characterization of genetic resources with particular focus on traditional varieties and their seed systems.
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