Cuba is the largest, most diverse, and most beautiful of the Greater Antilles islands . . . “The Pearl of the Antilles.” Numerous bays, peninsulas, and costal reefs give Cuba a shoreline of 3,117 miles with more than 280 natural beaches. This island has a subtropical trade-wind climate, ample rainfall, momentous mineral resources, and immense areas of level fertile land fitting for farming.








The whole island of Cuba was once sheltered with forest. Even though great areas were cleared to make way for sugarcane, there are still many cedar, rosewood, mahogany, and other precious trees. Sugarcane is Cuba’s most vital crop and largest export, being grown throughout the island. Tobacco, the second most important crop, is grown on small farms requiring exhaustive cultivation. Supplementary crops and products with export potential consist of coffee, rice, oranges, lemons and limes, grapefruit, potatoes, sweet potatoes, plantains, bananas, mangoes, pineapples, ginger, papayas, and seeds.








Cuba’s landscape embraces mountainous areas, plateaus, picturesque valleys, savannah (grassy plains), and gently rolling hills. Although the majority of land is low, there are quite a few upland and mountain areas that increase in height from west to east. Many of the hills resemble lonely haystacks and border magnificent valleys, rich in vegetation and gifted with a variety of beautiful and exotic orchids. In addition to mountain ranges and terraced uplands, Cuba has curious erosion formations — along the western coastline lies a beautiful and unusual area of eroded limestone.





There are more than 300 birds native to Cuba, including the bee hummingbird (the ivory-billed woodpecker may still exist here also). The dainty hummingbird loves to hover around Cuba’s national flower, the white butterfly jasmine. Also, living on the island are about 8,000 different plants and numerous reptile species, including alligators, iguanas, and small non-poisonous snakes.

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Cuba . . . advocate of the environment

At the 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development, Fidel Castro visualized in statement, “An important biological species is at risk of disappearing due to the rapid and progressive elimination of its natural habitat: man … consumer societies are fundamentally responsible for the atrocious destruction of the environment.” Ever since, ecological concerns have continued forward in Cuba due to the long-term interest of the island’s government. The Cuban constitution cares deeply for environmental protection. According to a 2007 report by the Worldwide Fund for Nature, Cuba has been recognized as the one country in the world that has been able to develop, and balance a rising standard of living, in an ecologically sustainable way.

Cuba is conceivably most well-known for its organic agriculture. During the 1990s, the collapse of the Soviet Union meant that the country no longer received cheap oil from Russia. Most pesticides and chemical fertilizers are a by-product of petroleum. Consequently, the only way to survive was to go organic. Cubans were encouraged to produce as much of their own food as possible and to use low-impact ecological methods. In Havana, extremely fruitful organic allotments can be found between tower blocks and all sorts of land otherwise unused. Cuba has over 7000 urban allotments know as “organopinics”, roughly 40,000 hectares. Cuba introduced global organic expertise and is renowned for its use of permaculture, the use of harmonized planting and biological techniques.  These methods make it easier to avoid pests and to maintain soil fertility. Organic waste, such as vegetable peelings, is composted for use in restoring soil nutrients. Worm bins are especially significant in that they hasten the breakdown of compost, turning waste into horticultural gold.

Cuba has become a world leader with its assisting of international action on climate change. They were the first country shifting to low energy light bulbs in order to cut CO2 emissions. As the island now trades oil with Venezuela in exchange for health care, it has developed renewable energy on a large scale, including solar and wind generated electricity. The Cuban government’s “energy revolution” has cautiously planned ways of conserving energy. The country also shares its know-how with other Caribbean and Latin American countries.

Recycling is as well highly developed in the country. Practically all waste is used again in light of environmental concern and ecological necessity.

Wildlife conservation is furthermore a precedence . . . most recently, the hunting of all marine turtles has been forbidden in hopes of preventing extinction.

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Protecting Havana’s Trees

The project “El Guardabosques” (The Forest Ranger) is an environmental idea that wishes for  ecological awareness among Havana’s inhabitants, and involvement in the protection of their natural surroundings, especially the trees. “It all began with the cutting of the ceiba,” recollects Isbel Diaz, founder of the mission, to IPS News.

Two years ago, a State Forestry Service crew radically pruned a 100 year old ceiba tree in the outskirts of Havana, purportedly to prevent its branches from falling on a two-story building that at the time housed a clinic. Diaz, a young biologist, took photographs and prepared a video with images of the damaged tree. He approached passers-by at the spot to encourage them to sign a petition, and wrote acquaintances alerting them to what had happened. Soon Diaz was contacted by Forestry Service officers who informed him that the crew had gone against the pruning order.

The helpful response from the authorities and the support of individuals and institutions encouraged him to publish an electronic newsletter, El Guardabosques. This bimonthly publication is now emailed to more than 500 subscribers . . . typically universities, research centers, cultural organizations, and artistic institutions from Cuba, as well as abroad. Each issue asks readers to report any attacks on trees witnessed anywhere on the island. The newsletter also aspires to become a means for encouraging citizens around the world to become actively involved in their own environmental education.

Cuba’s 1999 Forestry Law places urban trees under the category of “recreational forests”, where “tree cutting is only permitted for improvement purposes and to enhance” the area’s recreational and environmental health functions. According to the Agriculture Ministry’s Forestry Planning Department, since 2006, a little less than six percent of the territory of the province of Havana, the smallest of Cuba’s fourteen provinces, consisted of wooded areas. Between January and September 2008, 2.1 million trees were planted in Havana, almost three percent of the total trees on the entire island.

 In 1959, before the revolutionary forces overthrew the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista, barely 14 percent of the country’s total surface area was covered by forests. Today that proportion has gone up to more than 25 percent.