case studies undp: integrated forestry enterprise of bayamo, cuba

7/27/2019 Case Studies UNDP: INTEGRATED FORESTRY ENTERPRISE OF BAYAMO, Cuba

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Equator Initiative Case StudiesLocal sustainable development solutions for people, nature, and resilient communities

Cuba

INTEGRATED FORESTRYENTERPRISE OF BAYAMO

Empowered live

Resilient nation


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UNDP EQUATOR INITIATIVE CASE STUDY SERIES

Local and indigenous communities across the world are advancing innovative sustainable development solutions that wo

or people and or nature. Few publications or case studies tell the ull story o how such initiatives evolve, the breadth

their impacts, or how they change over time. Fewer still have undertaken to tell these stories with community practition

themselves guiding the narrative.

To mark its 10-year anniversary, the Equator Initiative aims to ll this gap. The ollowing case study is one in a growing ser

that details the work o Equator Prize winners vetted and peer-reviewed best practices in community-based environmenconservation and sustainable livelihoods. These cases are intended to inspire the policy dialogue needed to take local succ

to scale, to improve the global knowledge base on local environment and development solutions, and to serve as models

replication. Case studies are best viewed and understood with reerence to The Power of Local Action: Lessons from 10 Years

the Equator Prize, a compendium o lessons learned and policy guidance that draws rom the case material.

Click on the map to visit the Equator Initiatives searchable case study database.

EditorsEditor-in-Chief: Joseph Corcoran

Managing Editor: Oliver HughesContributing Editors: Dearbhla Keegan, Matthew Konsa, Erin Lewis, Whitney Wilding

Contributing WritersEdayatu Abieodun Lamptey, Erin Atwell, Toni Blackman, Jonathan Clay, Joseph Corcoran, Larissa Currado, Sarah Gordon, Oliver Hughe

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

DesignOliver Hughes, Dearbhla Keegan, Matthew Konsa, Kimberly Koserowski, Erin Lewis

AcknowledgementsThe Equator Initiative acknowledges with gratitude the Integrated Forestry Enterprise o Bayamo. Maps courtesy o CIA World Factbo

and Wikipedia.

Suggested CitationUnited Nations Development Programme. 2012. Integrated Forestry Enterprise of Bayamo, Cuba. Equator Initiative Case Study Series. N

York, NY.
http://equatorinitiative.org/index.php?option=com_winners&view=casestudysearch&Itemid=858


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PROJECT SUMMARYIntegrated Forestry Enterprise o Bayamo is a state-run

orest enterprise operating Granma Province, Cuba. In

1999, Granma was one o two pilot sites or an ecological

orest arms (Fincas Forestales Ecolgicas) initiative, which

put reorestation o Cauto River basin in the hands o

smallholder armers.

The working model saw plots o land assigned to interested

households or concession periods o 30 years. These

households were given responsibility or managing and

reoresting plots o between 12 and 25 ha, and wereencouraged to plant timber-yielding trees, ruit trees and

medicinal plants. The initiative had expanded to three

hydrological regions o the country by 2004; the result was

the reorestation o over 3,000 ha o land along the banks

o the Cauto River, and improvements in livelihoods and

wellbeing or economically marginalized communities.

KEY FACTS

EQUATOR PRIZE WINNER: 2002

FOUNDED: 1999

LOCATION: Initially Granma Province, later nationwide

BENEFICIARIES: Rural communities

BIODIVERSITY: Reforestation along the Cauto River

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INTEGRATED FORESTRY ENTERPRISE OFBAYAMOCuba

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Background and Context 4

Key Activities and Innovations 5

Biodiversity Impacts 6

Socioeconomic Impacts 6

Sustainability 7

Replication 7

Partners 7


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he eastern Cuban province o Granma is o immense national im-

ortance, both in terms o its cultural and historical signicance and

s ecological wealth. The province is named ater the yacht Granma,

sed by Che Guevara and Fidel Castro to land in Cuba in 1956. The

American who sold the revolutionaries the second-hand yacht in

Mexico named it Granma ater his grandmother, and the name o

he vessel subsequently became an icon o Cuban communism. The

rovince extends over approximately 8,400 square kilometres and

as a population o 835,000 people, o whom more than 670,000 live

n rural areas. The province contains the second largest river in Cuba,

he Rio Cauto, which extends 140 kilometres and crosses three o

he ve eastern provinces. This area orms the Cauto River Basin, the

argest and most important water reserve in the country.

and conversion and deforestation in Granma

he basin has been subjected to landscape-level changes which

ave led to substantial environmental degradation. Large areas o

orest were cleared or charcoal production, agriculture and cattle-

earing. As a result, the province is the second largest producer o

milk and rice in the country, but by 2000, only 19 per cent o its land

emained orested. Much o the vegetation had disappeared, includ-

ng a good deal o indigenous auna; canyons and hillsides had be-

ome heavily eroded and the river valley soil had become too sali-

ized to sustain agriculture production. During storms, the erosion

crevices and gullies rom ash oods caused major landslides,

evastating the landscape and human settlements. Lastly, siltation

the river resulting rom large-scale cultivation and inrastructure

rojects threatened the hydrological potential o the region.

Government attempts to stimulate local development

Widespread environmental degradation was exacerbated by the

reas low level o economic development. In 2000, the province o

Granma ranked lower than any other on the countrys Human Devel-

pment Index. The province is characterised by high levels o rural to

rban migration, as well as outmigration rom these cities to Havana.

Granma, thereore, became a development priority or the Cuban

overnment, who ocused on protecting the water table, combating

rought, halting soil erosion, and curbing the rate o migration rom

he countryside to cities.

However, several government-led attempts to reorest the Cauto

iver Basin ailed. These ailures were attributed to a range o actors,

ncluding heavy drought, inadequate site preparation, uncontrolled

razing, illegal logging and inadequate nancing. Another sig-

icant actor in the ailures was insucient input rom local com-

munities. To address this, the provincial administration designed a

rogramme that took a more holistic approach to rehabilitating the

asin, encompassing environmental, social and economic elements.

Reforestation, farm by farm

Since 1998, the United Nations Development Programme (U

has led the Local Human Development Programme (Program

Desarollo Humano a Nivel Local PDHL) in Cuba. The program

promotes technological innovation or sustainable human d

opment in rural communities and brings together more than

institutions rom 11 countries worldwide to exchange knowl

and experiences on local-level development. These internat

partnerships include South-South cooperation with institutes

Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Uruguay and Venez

as well as the Federation o Canadian Municipalities, the Nat

Association o Italian Communes, and the Andalusian Federatio

Municipalities and Provinces.

The programme has also encouraged a high degree o cootion among UN agencies in Cuba, including UNDP, the UN O

or Project Services (UNOPS) and the ormer UN Development

or Women (UNIFEM). Among other objectives, the programme

sought to create a model o decentralised development base

Cubas rural villages and municipalities, while mainstreaming

proved gender awareness in all o its projects.

PDHL began operating in the country in 1999 in two pilot prov

Granma and Pinar del Ro. In Granma, the programme ocus

a local initiative to promote sustainable natural resource man

ment and the environmental rehabilitation o land along the C

River. Emphasis was placed on diversiying vegetation and c

ing new employment opportunities or economically marginacommunities.

The programme ocused on a reorestation project called F

Forestales Ecolgicas, or ecological orest arms that was based

state-run orest enterprise model, Empresa Forestal Integral de

amo. The working model saw land divided into plots and assig

to interested households or a concession period o 30 years. I

ested arming households were given responsibility or mana

and reoresting plots o between 12 and 25 hectares in size. F

lies planted timber-yielding trees, ruit trees and medicinal pl

and raised livestock on their plots. No restrictions were place

whether goods produced or crops harvested were used or pers

consumption or or sale to outside markets.

The ecological orest arms initiative gained widespread acc

across Cuba and expanded to three hydrological regions o the c

try by 2004. The conservation and development model has been

ognized internationally as a successul example o decentraliza

and an efective modality or community-based reorestation.

Background and Context


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Key Activities and Innovations

Community members running ecological orest arms are empow-

red to manage their parcels o land as individual owners. By 2002,

he project had established 55 orest arms along the Cauto River,

ach o which averaged between 12 and 25 hectares in size. In to-

al, around 1,300 hectares o land have been reorested. Plots were

eorested with trees provided by the provincial orest authority.

raining on arm management and environmental conservation was

provided by government extension staf. To encourage amilies to

emain on their plots, the project also oversaw the construction o

omortable amily homes, each equipped with uel-ecient stoves,

photovoltaic panels and a television set. The project created 220

ew jobs or arm amilies, beneting men and women equally.

As one important dimension o the project, UNIFEM and the Cuban

Womens Federation carried out training workshops ocusing on

ender relationships in the context o the orest arms. One out-ome o the workshops was a proposal, which was presented to the

Granma Peoples Power Provincial Assembly, recommending that

al o newly-created orest arms be assigned to women. An agree-

ment was subsequently drawn up that made this equal allocation o

and between men and women into reality. So successul was this

approach that is was replicated in the ecological orest arm

ects in Guantanamo and Las Tunas. This innovation in gender m

streaming helped secure a high level o community participati

the project and was efective in ensuring the involvement o wo

heads o household in arm management.

The ecological orest arms project also served as a delivery me

nism or alternative energy technology to marginalized comm

ties. By 2002, the programme had overseen the installation o

solar power energy stations and 79 windmills. The programme

also efective at promoting the uptake o organic arming and

use o organic ertilizers by smallholder armers; more than 4

tonnes o ertilizer were being produced and used each year,

stituting or chemical inputs which had detrimental efects on

local environment. In addition, the programme helped to imp

irrigation systems, which, in turn, improved soil conditions wstrengthened ood security. New and improved irrigation sys

were credited with the rehabilitation o over 1,000 hectares o

land. Lastly, and certainly most important rom a socioecon

vantage point, the ecological orest arms project created a tot

1,206 new jobs in the country, 921 o which went to women.


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6

Impacts

BIODIVERSITY IMPACTS

The chie biodiversity impact o the project was the reorestation o

over 3,000 hectares o land along the banks o the Cauto River. This

woodland belt now consists o 14 multipurpose orest species, and

cts as a water regulator or the river. The interventions o this project

helped reduce degradation o the river basin by, among other things,

preventing soil erosion. Reorestation using indigenous timber and

ruit tree species also helped restore biodiversity in the region and

orested areas now provide habitat or endemic wildlie. What has

distinguished the orest arms initiative most markedly rom previ-

ous reorestation attempts has been the maintenance and upkeep

o the plots. The survival rate o plantations has increased due to

arming amilies remaining on their household plots, and thereore

nvesting time and energy in the upkeep o their orest land.

Ecological orest arms have had a wide impact on reorestation

cross Cuba. Adopted as a nationwide programme ollowing its suc-

ess in Granma, 848 orest arms had been set up in the three hydro-

ogical regions o the country by early 2004, covering a total area

o 91,067 hectares. In the province o Pinar del Ro (which has the

highest woodland ratio in Cuba at 39 per cent) orest companies set

up 111 arms to manage 74,100 hectares o natural woodland, or 23

per cent o the total land area o the province.

The impact o ecological orest arms in the eastern region has been

especially notable, with some 8,573 hectares planted on 11,472 hect-

res o orest arms. Farms in the eastern region tend to be smaller

on average, but have been established in greater numbers and pre-dominantly in the areas prioritised or reorestation. The eastern re-

gion has a rural population o more than 1.5 million, and over hal

o the countrys river basins, yet water regulation remains a critical

hallenge. Both soil salinity and soil erosion are still high, making the

eastern region a priority or reorestation eforts.

n the course o its rst six years, the orest arms project was respon-

ible or planting 13,643 hectares, a gure that represents almost 35

per cent o the countrys annual total. In regions with limited agricul-

ural production, due to poor soil and requent droughts, a 95 per

ent survival rate has been achieved across all planted areas. Thisontrasts with a historical average o 36 per cent or previous reor-

estation attempts in similar circumstances. The incidence o illegal

ogging and orest res also diminished.

SOCIOECONOMIC IMPACTS

The orest arms project has generated social and economic benets

primarily through direct job creation. By 2002, the work o the Inte-

grated Forestry Enterprise o Bayamo had led to the creation o 220

jobs in Granma, and was providing income or 55 amilies. As

ated benets o the project include improved agricultural produ

ity o arms, and revenues generated by the sale o orest prod

and livestock-rearing. Growing vegetables and breeding anima

household consumption also benetted ood security.

Gender empowerment has been a critical integrated benet o

programmes work in Granma. Through an agreement with thevincial government, ty per cent o all orest arms were title

women heads o household. Improving the wellbeing o ar

amilies, including the provision o televisions, photovoltaic pa

and uel-ecient stoves contributed to decreased rates o migr

rom the countryside to urban areas.

By 2004, these benets had been elt on a wider scale. Acros

provinces o the countrys eastern region, 75 per cent o orest

areas had been planted. The arms employed 1,025 workers, at

tio o 8.3 hectares per worker.

The province o Las Tunas, or instance, was one o the most d

ested in the country, with only 12 per cent orest cover and ral population o around 40 per cent. By 2004, this province

at the oreront o the national reorestation efort, with 146 o

arms established. Direct orestry production per 26-hectare

was 3,300 m3, worth a total o USD 75,092. Average salaries

increased by an average o 17 per cent, and agricultural produ

by 38 per cent. These gures demonstrate the viability o adop

orest arms as a means o providing employment and efective

habilitating hydrological basins.


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7

Sustainability and Replication

SUSTAINABILITY

upport or reorestation has been enorced at a national and local

evel. There are national targets to increase the amount o land

overed by orests, supported by 1998 legislation banning the elling

trees without direct authorisation rom the Council o Ministers or

s Executive Committee. Municipal authorities have included orest

arms in their management plans and allocated necessary nancial

esources. The orest arm system benets rom a national und or

eorestation activities, which also serves to veriy that sustainable

riteria are being used. Through orest arms, advances or decline in

orestry and agroorestry activities can be monitored with greater

recision. Reorestation activities at the provincial level are also a key

omponent o Cubas National Environmental Plan.

y involving the local community at every stage o reorestationlanning and implementation, the long-term success o the

roject has been secured. While previous attempts at large-scale

eorestation had oten proved unsustainable, this approach has

nsured that individual households have maintained their own orest

lots, with a survival rate o 95 per cent between 1998 and 2004.

One reason or this has been the granting o land plots in usuruct

o arming households or a period o 30 years. As amilies have a

reater interest in the long term productivity o their arm plots,

hey have been more likely to maintain their ecological integrity.

he potential or income generation has also enhanced households

nterest in maintaining their individual orest plots.

Undeniably, however, the success o the project has been largelyontingent on two actors: international support, through the

UNDPs Programa de Desarollo Humano a Nivel Local; and continued

entral unding rom the Cuban government. These two sources

ave ensured that the project has enjoyed a high degree o local

upport, thanks to gender mainstreaming work and long-term

nancial security.

REPLICATION

he ast pace o replication o the orest arms project beyond

Granma to other hydrological basins in Cuba is testament to the

esults achieved by the Integrated Forestry Enterprise o Bayamo.he transerability o the project has made it a model or state-run

eorestation programmes, with its popularity in Cuba mirrored by

ts recognition on the international stage. Interest in the project was

rst sparked by a lm documentary on orest arms, shown on Cuban

elevisions De Sol a Sol programme in 1997.

esults rom more than 10 reports on orest arms representing the

arious hydrological regions o Cuba were presented at the 1998

Cuban Forestry Conerence, which was attended by international

nstitutions concerned with sustainable orestry development. The

idea was subsequently the ocus o attention at the First Coner

on River Basin Soil Conservation and Management, held in 1999

Cuban Forestry Research Institute presented on ecological o

arms at international workshops on the sustainable managem

o mountain areas held in Quertaro, Mxico (1999), and S

Domingo, Dominican Republic (2000).

Forest arms were proled during the 2002 Regional Conerenc

Mountain Areas in Latin America and the Caribbean, held in C

The idea gained urther traction at the regional level at a work

organised by the Food and Agriculture Organization o the UN (

in Peru in 2003, where Latin American and Caribbean representa

agreed to encourage pilot ecological orest arms in river basin a

The project won the inaugural UNDP Equator Prize in 2002, a

World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg.

PARTNERS

Forest arms are implemented by Cubas Ecological Forest Enter

System, operating in provinces through enterprises suc

the Integrated Forestry Enterprise o Bayamo in Granma, o

Integrated Forestry Enterprise o Las Tunas in its neighbou

province. These enterprises receive technical assistance rom

Forestry Research Institute and the State Forestry Service. T

bodies have also provided assistance in implementing orest

in other countries, and can draw on a large qualied group o ex

to help dene, develop and evaluate projects. Both operate w

the Cuban Agriculture Ministry (MINAGRI), with support rom FStudy Centre o the University o Pinar del Ro. The Land Departm

o the University o Granma has also provided technical suppo

the project.

The international partners to the project, coordinated thro

UNDPs Programa de Desarollo Humano a Nivel Local, inclu

vast array o multilateral actors. UN partner agencies include

Educational, Scientic and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), UN

World Health Programme, International Labour Organisation,

UNIFEM. The latter worked alongside the Federation o C

Women in conducting workshops with groups o local wome

develop a gender component or the project. These works

resulted in a proposal to the Peoples Power Provincial AssembGranma, stipulating that ty per cent o all orest arms establi

were to be leased to women heads o households.

Meanwhile, knowledge-sharing has taken place through the P

initiative, which brings together more than 16 institutions in el

countries worldwide. These include decentralised ederation

municipalities rom Canada, Italy, Sweden, and the Basque re

o Spain. In recent years, the project has also benetted rom

support o Oxam Canada, which unded a capacity building pr

or technical personnel and orest armers.


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necting countries to knowledge, experience and resources to help people build a better lie.

The Equator Initiative brings together the United Nations, governments, civil society, businesses and grassroots organizati

o recognize and advance local sustainable development solutions or people, nature and resilient communities.

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FURTHER REFERENCE

Ecological Forest Farms or the Environmental Regeneration o River Basins. 2004. Innovation or Development and South-South C

eration (IDEASS) Cuba. Available at: http://www.ideassonline.org/pd/br_19_16.pd

Integrated Forestry Enterprise o Bayamo video (Vimeo) http://vimeo.com/27019256
http://vimeo.com/27019256http://vimeo.com/27019256http://www.equatorinitiative.org/images/stories/com_winners/casestudy/case_1348162360.pdfhttp://www.equatorinitiative.org/images/stories/com_winners/casestudy/case_1348151615.pdfhttp://www.equatorinitiative.org/images/stories/com_winners/casestudy/case_1348161473.pdf

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