Describe the main features of the measure/initiative:
Maintain a working system combined with the entities of the Ministry of Culture, in particular with the Center for International Collaboration for Culture, the Division of International Relations, the Cuban Book Institute, the National Council of Culture Houses, the National Council of Cultural Heritage, the National Council of Visual Arts, CUBARTE, and the Division of Cultural Industries, among others, with the aim of providing the environmental dimension in the analysis and achievement of cultural and artistic processes that facilitate and lead the various entities of the Ministry of Culture (MINCULT for Spanish); they have an impact on the working programs and areas of the Antonio Núñez Jiménez Foundation for Nature and Man (FANJ for Spanish), such as Nature and Community, Geo-historical Research, Local Sustainable Development, Responsible Consumption and Economy, and Heritage Conservation.
The measure covers the actions of the FANJ's Nature and Community, Sustainable Local Development, and Responsible Consumption and Economy Programs and facilitates the cultural perspective in the treatment and analysis of the environmental field and its interrelationship.
Within the 25 years of work in which the FANJ has been the issuing and training center for Permaculture in Cuba, one of the systematic actions that we promote is the Salvemos la Semilla Network, with continuous fairs and exchanges that are combined with artistic manifestations derived from the culture generated by the production of certain foods in each particular locality, based on the diversity that we promote.
Within the programs it develops are the following:
Environmental Dialogues: Through the combination of various sectors, we address complex issues of Cuban nature with the promotion of exchanges, round tables, where an executive report is issued to the authorities responsible for the issue in question, which with a multisectoral view recommends feasible measures to be carried out given the context. This is a way to solve environmental conflicts. The incorporation of the cultural system into these processes has been crucial.
Strengthening the Urban Green Areas: Combination between landscapers, architects, botanists, nurseries and decision makers in order to basically improve the state of urban trees in Havana. The treatment of this issue is promoted among artists of diverse manifestations.
Climate Change and Biodiversity in fragile ecosystems in Cuba: Biodiversity Conservation is one of the goals of the FANJ's work, which in the last four years has implemented various projects that contribute to this achievement. One of these is the CCamBio Project with funds from the European Union and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), which focuses on the ecosystems of the Ciénaga de Zapata and the Jardines de la Reina and Caguanes.
Website of the measure/initiative, if available:
What are the results achieved so far through the implementation of the measure/initiative?:
The FANJ provides the environmental and sustainability dimension in the processes of exchange with the artistic and cultural sectors that make the system of cultural institutions in Cuba viable. It participates in Cuban editorial production and is an active member of the International Book Fair of Havana led by the Cuban Book Institute. The "En Canoa del Amazonas al Caribe" Museum is part of the museum network in the country, recognized with a special category. Gallery 11 of the FANJ is part of the Program of the Galleries of the National Council of Visual Arts. On the other hand, its projects on international collaboration are part of the Bank of Projects of the Center for International Collaboration of MINCULT.
FANJ in its international work, given its consultative status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations (ECOSOC) and accredited to the Climate Change Convention, participated in the Conference of the Parties to the Climate Change Convention, COP 21, in Paris in 2015, together with MINCULT. In this regard, work is being done with the National Heritage Council to prepare the national record to declare the Cayucas (native boats from eastern Cuba that have become extinct for various reasons, but which are necessary for the communication of areas of difficult access and fragile ecosystem) as heritage. Other entities of the culture system have also been incorporated into the work of protecting threatened and critically endangered species, such as the Cuban polymita and crocodile, which are protected under the agreements signed by Cuba within the framework of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) and the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN), of which the FANJ is the only member in Cuba.
It has been possible to articulate the environmental dimension in processes where this vision is absent or scarce, and has managed to keep the concept present in the mainstream media. Work has been done to promote joint work between the scientific and cultural fields in Cuba.
The "Espacios Abiertos" Project was carried out with funds from the European Union, where the FANJ and the Municipal Division of Beach Culture joined forces to improve the naturalization conditions of three culture houses in Havana, as well as the "Environmental Literacy" Project for directors and officials of said houses, and art promoters in the use of natural elements to work in the communities and environmental training.
As a result of the ‘’Espacios Abiertos’’ Project, material support for the development of handicrafts, the cleaning of rivers and the improvement of surrounding open spaces was provided to creators with special sensitivity to environmental issues. In this regard, materials were imported for logistic support to three Culture Houses of the system of institutions of the Ministry of Culture.
Sixteen seed exchange fairs have been held throughout the country, through which the production of edible fruit plant species, which are deeply rooted in our culture, has been revalued and stimulated in accordance with the principle of sustainability and food security. This promotion work has been accompanied by the artistic movement at the local level, encouraging the use of natural seeds through décimas (ten-verse stanzas), children's choirs, visual art works, among other manifestations.
As a result of the Environmental Dialogues, one of the topics discussed was the impact of hurricanes in Cuba, in relation to which a series of television spots were made, in which popular customs are valued for the preservation of human lives and material resources, such as the use and construction of the Vara en Tierra (a yard-high shelter), the use of the Bohío (hut) and the palm-thatched roof as a very resistant aboriginal construction solution of greater environmental sustainability.
A Guide to Urban Trees was prepared to be illustrated by Cuban scientific illustrators and a series of television spots were produced on this subject.
As part of the process of combining the effects of Climate Change and Biodiversity, two documentaries, three television spots, brochures, posters and gigantography were produced as part of the CCamBio Campaign, as vehicles of communication that brought the conservation dimension to broad segments of the population, at the local and national levels.