Project
Towards climate resilience in the agriculture sector in Cuba
Because of its small size, limited land area and concentration of infrastructure along the coastline, Cuba (the Cuban archipelago) is vulnerable to the risks of Climate Change. To help building climate resilience in the agriculture sector, CDI trained staff members of the Cuban Meteorological Office on the concepts and possible application of Climate Smart Agriculture.
Menace to food security
The Government of Cuba prioritzes food security and enhanced natural resource management. However, the effects of Climate Change exert pressure on these topics and have raised awareness among researchers, scientist and governmental agencies. Climate Change is projected to have significant impacts on agriculture and therefore threatens the livelihood of thousands of farmers and is poised to become a major menace to food security.
Over the last two decades, Cuba has made important progress in developing policies and communication programmes in the context of adaptation to climate change. However, the projected impacts of Climate Change on the Cuban archipelago prompts the Government of Cuba to increase the efforts for adoption measures and implementation strategies.
Cuban Meteorological Office
Under the auspices of the Cuba's Ministry of Science, Technology and the Environment, Cuban Meteorological Office (INSMET in Spanish) provides weather and climate information based on an early warning system that helps prevent and mitigate damages caused by natural disasters.
Some of the INSMET’s services are Decadal Agrometeorology Bulletin, National Drought Analysis, Biometeorology reports, Fire forest vigilance, daily weather forecast or Agro-climatic regionalization of crops according to climate conditions.
However, INSMET’s staff members require up-to-date information and improved capacities to ensure understanding and further implementation of adaptive, and climate-smart, agricultural practices.
International course on adaption for climate-smart agriculture
For more than a decade, Wageningen UR Centre for Development Innovation (CDI), has been running two annual three-week international courses on Climate Change Governance and Climate Change Adaptation. Our approach to Climate Change is rooted in a wealth of experience from hundreds of course participants and CDI’s development projects on adaption processes in agriculture in many countries.