THE SPECIAL PERIOD AND THE ENVIRONMENT Sergio Díaz-Briquets and Jorge F. Pérez-López The dissolution of the socialist community has had the crisis on overall levels of economic activity, on severe repercussions on the Cuban economy. Prior to population standards of living, or on the perfor- these momentous changes, the former Soviet Union mance of specific sectors of the economy (such as and the socialist nations of Eastern Europe were Cu- sugar cane agriculture, electricity, or transportation). ba’s economic lifeline. In 1989, the most recent year Relatively unstudied, however, are the effects of the for which official data are available, the former Soviet economic crisis associated with the special period on Union and the socialist countries of Eastern Europe other aspects of Cuban life, such as the environment. bought about 85 percent of Cuba’s exports and pro- This paper presents a preliminary analysis of the ef- vided a like share of imports; these nations were also fects on the Cuban environmental situation of special the source of the bulk of Cuba’s external financing period policies and outcomes. The analysis is broad, for economic development. extending beyond the agricultural sector—on which Over the two-year period 1989-90, the former social- there already has been some published work—and ist countries severed trade and financial relationships examining special period-environment interactions with Cuba, forcing severe adjustments on the island. across the economy at large, including industry, min- The set of emergency measures implemented by the ing, tourism, nutrition, public health, etc. The paper Cuban government—beginning in September is divided in three sections. The first one gives some 1990—aimed at preventing the total economic col- necessary background on the state of the environ- lapse of the regime, have been referred to by the lead- ment in Cuba in the late 1980s, that is, prior to the ership as the “special period in peacetime,” highlight- start of the economic crisis associated with the special ing that the situation being addressed was the period. The second section examines aspects of spe- equivalent of wartime conditions, although no open cial period policies and outcomes that have had a military conflict was present. Austerity measures positive impact on the environment. The third sec- adopted by the Cuban leadership during the special tion does the same with regard to those whose impact period—rationing consumption, increasing domes- on the environment has been negative. The paper tic food production, stimulating exports that gener- concludes with a tentative assessment of the overall ate hard currency flows, attracting foreign effect of the special period on the Cuban environ- investment—have been aimed at operating the econ- mental situation. omy with much reduced levels of imports and exter- THE CUBAN ENVIRONMENTAL nal financial resources. SITUATION BEFORE THE SPECIAL PERIOD The economic crisis that has swept Cuba in the In a self-congratulatory document presented to the 1990s, coinciding with the special period in peace- June 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, which time, has affected every facet of Cuban life. Analysts emphasized the Cuban socialist government’s com- have focused a great deal of attention on the effects of mitment to the preservation of the environment and Cuba in Transition · ASCE 1995 natural resources, President Castro nevertheless made and Puerto Padre (Dávalos, 1984). By 1990, Cienfu- brief reference to some pressing environmental prob- egos bay was added to the list, partly because of the lems. He highlighted the following (Castro, very inefficient use of existing industrial pollution 1992:46): control systems (Schlachter, 1990). • pollution of bays; Many instances of soil salinization and erosion can be blamed on waterlogging caused by poor irrigation • soil erosion and degradation, particularly in min- and drainage practices, by excessive water extraction ing areas; rates from coastal aquifers, and hare-brained schemes • pollution of surface waters from the waste of the that led to the damming of low water volume streams sugar industry; and and rivers that dried out during the dry season months (Díaz-Briquets and Pérez-López, 1993). It is • erosion of beaches and coastal areas and saliniza- estimated that one million hectares, or about 14 per- tion of low-laying coastal lands. cent of the country’s agricultural surface have exces- Many of these environmental stresses were inherited sive salt deposits. Of these, about 600,000 hectares from the past, but some arose or were intensified by are deemed to have light to modest salinization levels sectoral development strategies pursued by the revo- and the rest heavy salinization (“Estudio,” 1991). lutionary government. Urban pollution, for instance, The regions with the heaviest levels of salinization are could be partly traced to Cuba’s extreme reliance on in Guantánamo and the Cauto valley. inefficient and highly contaminating Soviet and East- The Cuban non-sugar industrial sector is also a heavy ern European-built vehicles and factories. In the agri- polluter, discharging polluting agents into the atmo- cultural sector, a practice that resulted in much envi- sphere, the sea, or other ecological systems. Accord- ronmental damage was the promotion of Soviet- ing to Oro (1992:47-56), among the chief pollutants style, large-scale state farm production model based in the non-sugar industrial sector were: on widespread mechanization, heavy chemical inputs (e.g., fertilizers and herbicides), and extensive irriga- • the cement industry, a heavy generator of dust tion (Pérez-López, 1991b; Solares, 1994). The effect and smoke; of large scale mechanization on the compaction of soils has been reported as severe (Sáez, 1994). The • the chemical and metallurgical industries, pro- pollution of streams and coastal areas by organic ducers of acid steams, smoke and soot; waste discharges from the sugar industry was a major • the steel and non-ferrous alloy industries, also concern for years. By the late 1980s, when sugar pro- heavy producers of smoke and soot; duction was at its peak, the problem was considered so serious that to lower discharge rates, measures • the sugar cane derivative industry, consisting of were instituted in more than 90 mills to fertilize sug- plants producing torula yeast, bagasse boards, ar cane fields with organic waste (Clark, 1989). paper, etc., and generating a variety of air pollut- ants and solid wastes; and Some of Cuba’s bays became severely polluted be- cause of human, industrial, and agricultural discharg- • the mining industry, especially the nickel indus- es, but also by the runoffs associated with the defor- try, which launches extremely heavy amounts of estation resulting from strip mining (e.g, in Moa). By dust into the atmosphere and releases by-prod- the late 1970s, the United Nations Development ucts into streams and the sea. Program was providing financial and technical assis- tance to the Cuban government to arrest the growing POSITIVE SPECIAL PERIOD- contamination of Havana harbor (Menéndez, 1979). ENVIRONMENT INTERACTIONS High levels of industrial and agricultural pollution The special period has had some positive effects on were also in evidence in the bays of Nipe, Chaparra, the Cuban environmental situation. As President 282 The Special Period and the Environment Castro stated in the mentioned document presented Caribbean (ECLAC) has reported that a growth rate to the June 1992 Earth Summit, of 0.7 percent was achieved in that year (ECLAC, 1995:1). [The special period] is a period of readjustment ... re- quiring maximum economizing and austerity in eco- Perhaps the most tangible aspect of special period ad- nomic and social policies, along with many creative initiatives, a large number of which have come direct- justment policies has been the sharp reduction in Cu- ly from the people. Many of the steps taken as a result ba’s ability to import. Between 1989 and 1993, Cu- of the special period fit in with the strategic lines pre- ban imports fell from 8.1 billion pesos to 2.0 billion pared by the Revolution. Some of them have helped pesos, or by 75 percent (Pérez-López, 1995:11). Such accelerate the policies put into effect by the country a sharp reduction in imports affected all categories of in defense of the environment (Castro, 1992:49). imported goods: oil and oil products, food, machin- The sector of the economy in which the special peri- ery and equipment, spare parts, chemicals, raw mate- od-environment interactions have been positive that rials, etc. Although Cuba has not published foreign has received the greatest attention is agriculture (Car- trade statistics by commodity since 1989, a recon- ney, 1993). The special period has also positively af- struction of such statistics carried out by the Central fected the environmental situation in other economic Intelligence Agency based on partner country statis- sectors, such as industry and transportation, and has tics (Table 1) confirms that reductions in imports had some positive (as well as some negative) effects over the period 1989-93 affected all import catego- on public health. ries. Particularly relevant for purposes of this paper were the reductions in imports of fuels (76 percent), Economic growth and environmental degradation: En- chemicals (72 percent), transportation equipment vironmental degradation in all societies occurs due to (86 percent), and consumer goods (82 percent). Ac- two primary reasons: (1) population growth, urban- cording to Cuban official Carlos Lage, in 1993, ization, and industrialization place increasing pres- Cuba imported 5.7 million tons of oil and oil prod- sure on the environment; and (2) society fails to in- ucts (Carlos Lage, 1993:4) and domestic crude pro- corporate the true cost of environmental resources in duction reached 1.1 million tons, for a total apparent its production and consumption decisions (Pearce supply of 6.8 million tons, compared to the approxi- and Warford, 1993; Espino, 1992:327).