Empowered lives. Resilient nations. INTEGRATED FORESTRY ENTERPRISE OF BAYAMO Cuba Equator Initiative Case Studies Local sustainable development solutions for people, nature, and resilient communities UNDP EQUATOR INITIATIVE CASE STUDY SERIES Local and indigenous communities across the world are advancing innovative sustainable development solutions that work for people and for nature. Few publications or case studies tell the full story of how such initiatives evolve, the breadth of their impacts, or how they change over time. Fewer still have undertaken to tell these stories with community practitioners themselves guiding the narrative. To mark its 10-year anniversary, the Equator Initiative aims to fill this gap. The following case study is one in a growing series that details the work of Equator Prize winners – vetted and peer-reviewed best practices in community-based environmental conservation and sustainable livelihoods. These cases are intended to inspire the policy dialogue needed to take local success to scale, to improve the global knowledge base on local environment and development solutions, and to serve as models for replication. Case studies are best viewed and understood with reference to ‘The Power of Local Action: Lessons from 10 Years of the Equator Prize’, a compendium of lessons learned and policy guidance that draws from the case material. Click on the map to visit the Equator Initiative’s searchable case study database. Editors Editor-in-Chief: Joseph Corcoran Managing Editor: Oliver Hughes Contributing Editors: Dearbhla Keegan, Matthew Konsa, Erin Lewis, Whitney Wilding Contributing Writers Edayatu Abieodun Lamptey, Erin Atwell, Toni Blackman, Jonathan Clay, Joseph Corcoran, Larissa Currado, Sarah Gordon, Oliver Hughes, Wen-Juan Jiang, Sonal Kanabar, Dearbhla Keegan, Matthew Konsa, Rachael Lader, Patrick Lee, Erin Lewis, Jona Liebl, Mengning Ma, Mary McGraw, Gabriele Orlandi, Juliana Quaresma, Peter Schecter, Martin Sommerschuh, Whitney Wilding, Luna Wu Design Oliver Hughes, Dearbhla Keegan, Matthew Konsa, Kimberly Koserowski, Erin Lewis Acknowledgements The Equator Initiative acknowledges with gratitude the Integrated Forestry Enterprise of Bayamo. Maps courtesy of CIA World Factbook and Wikipedia. Suggested Citation United Nations Development Programme. 2012. Integrated Forestry Enterprise of Bayamo, Cuba. Equator Initiative Case Study Series. New York, NY. INTEGRATED FORESTRY ENTERPRISE OF BAYAMO Cuba PROJECT SUMMARY KEY FACTS Integrated Forestry Enterprise of Bayamo is a state-run forest enterprise operating Granma Province, Cuba. In EQUATOR PRIZE WINNER: 2002 1999, Granma was one of two pilot sites for an ecological FOUNDED: 1999 forest farms (Fincas Forestales Ecológicas) initiative, which put reforestation of Cauto River basin in the hands of LOCATION: Initially Granma Province, later nationwide smallholder farmers. The working model saw plots of land assigned to interested BENEFICIARIES: Rural communities households for concession periods of 30 years. These BIODIVERSITY: Reforestation along the Cauto River households were given responsibility for managing and reforesting plots of between 12 and 25 ha, and were encouraged to plant timber-yielding trees, fruit trees and medicinal plants. The initiative had expanded to three hydrological regions of the country by 2004; the result was the reforestation of over 3,000 ha of land along the banks of the Cauto River, and improvements in livelihoods and wellbeing for economically marginalized communities. TABLE OF CONTENTS Background and Context 4 Key Activities and Innovations 5 Biodiversity Impacts 6 Socioeconomic Impacts 6 Sustainability 7 Replication 7 Partners 7 3 Background and Context The eastern Cuban province of Granma is of immense national im- Reforestation, farm by farm portance, both in terms of its cultural and historical significance and its ecological wealth. The province is named after the yacht ‘Granma’, Since 1998, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) used by Che Guevara and Fidel Castro to land in Cuba in 1956. The has led the Local Human Development Programme (Programa de American who sold the revolutionaries the second-hand yacht in Desarollo Humano a Nivel Local – PDHL) in Cuba. The programme Mexico named it ‘Granma’ after his grandmother, and the name of promotes technological innovation for sustainable human devel- the vessel subsequently became an icon of Cuban communism. The opment in rural communities and brings together more than 160 province extends over approximately 8,400 square kilometres and institutions from 11 countries worldwide to exchange knowledge has a population of 835,000 people, of whom more than 670,000 live and experiences on local-level development. These international in rural areas. The province contains the second largest river in Cuba, partnerships include South-South cooperation with institutes from the Rio Cauto, which extends 140 kilometres and crosses three of Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Uruguay and Venezuela, the five eastern provinces. This area forms the Cauto River Basin, the as well as the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, the National largest and most important water reserve in the country. Association of Italian Communes, and the Andalusian Federation of Municipalities and Provinces. Land conversion and deforestation in Granma The programme has also encouraged a high degree of coopera- The basin has been subjected to landscape-level changes which tion among UN agencies in Cuba, including UNDP, the UN Office have led to substantial environmental degradation. Large areas of for Project Services (UNOPS) and the former UN Development Fund forest were cleared for charcoal production, agriculture and cattle- for Women (UNIFEM). Among other objectives, the programme has rearing. As a result, the province is the second largest producer of sought to create a model of decentralised development based on milk and rice in the country, but by 2000, only 19 per cent of its land Cuba’s rural villages and municipalities, while mainstreaming im- remained forested. Much of the vegetation had disappeared, includ- proved gender awareness in all of its projects. ing a good deal of indigenous fauna; canyons and hillsides had be- come heavily eroded and the river valley soil had become too sali- PDHL began operating in the country in 1999 in two pilot provinces nized to sustain agriculture production. During storms, the erosion – Granma and Pinar del Río. In Granma, the programme focus was of crevices and gullies from flash floods caused major landslides, a local initiative to promote sustainable natural resource manage- devastating the landscape and human settlements. Lastly, siltation ment and the environmental rehabilitation of land along the Cauto of the river resulting from large-scale cultivation and infrastructure River. Emphasis was placed on diversifying vegetation and creat- projects threatened the hydrological potential of the region. ing new employment opportunities for economically marginalized communities. Government attempts to stimulate local development The programme focused on a reforestation project called Fincas Widespread environmental degradation was exacerbated by the Forestales Ecológicas, or ‘ecological forest farms’ that was based on a area’s low level of economic development. In 2000, the province of state-run forest enterprise model, Empresa Forestal Integral de Bay- Granma ranked lower than any other on the country’s Human Devel- amo. The working model saw land divided into plots and assigned opment Index. The province is characterised by high levels of rural to to interested households for a concession period of 30 years. Inter- urban migration, as well as outmigration from these cities to Havana. ested farming households were given responsibility for managing Granma, therefore, became a development priority for the Cuban and reforesting plots of between 12 and 25 hectares in size. Fami- government, who focused on protecting the water table, combating lies planted timber-yielding trees, fruit trees and medicinal plants, drought, halting soil erosion, and curbing the rate of migration from and raised livestock on their plots. No restrictions were placed on the countryside to cities. whether goods produced or crops harvested were used for personal consumption or for sale to outside markets. However, several government-led attempts to reforest the Cauto River Basin failed. These failures were attributed to a range of factors, The ‘ecological forest farms’ initiative gained widespread acclaim including heavy drought, inadequate site preparation, uncontrolled across Cuba and expanded to three hydrological regions of the coun- grazing, illegal logging and inadequate financing. Another sig- try by 2004. The conservation and development model has been rec- nificant factor in the failures was insufficient input from local -com ognized internationally as a successful example of decentralization munities. To address this, the provincial administration designed a and an effective modality for community-based reforestation. programme that took a more holistic approach to rehabilitating the Basin, encompassing environmental, social and economic elements. 4 Key Activities and Innovations Community members running ‘ecological forest farms’ are empow- approach that is was replicated in the ‘ecological forest farm’ proj- ered to manage their parcels of land as individual owners. By 2002, ects in Guantanamo and Las Tunas. This innovation in gender main- the project had