Family Farms and the Conservation of Agrobiodiversity in Cuba

Food Security and Nature

Urbano Fra Paleo, Leonor Castiñeiras, Urbano Fra Paleo, Leonor Castiñeiras

• Publisher: Taylor & Francis
• Year: 2023
• Print ISBN: 9781138735712
• eBook ISBN: 9781351729475
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Technology & Engineering
• Subtopic: Ecology
• Index: Technology & Engineering

This highly original volume investigates and documents the complex interactions between small family farms and Man and Biosphere Reserves in Cuba.

Covering over two decades of research in agriculture and biodiversity conservation in Cuba, this book provides a unique case study about sustainable agriculture. It shows how the agricultural biodiversity maintained in situ by family farms within those protected areas provides a strategic source of crop genetic resources, including seeds and planting materials, as well as agroecological knowledge and practices. Agricultural practices within and around the Biosphere Reserves have helped to promote local food security through healthier and more diverse food production, while contributing to the conservation of biodiversity and of ecosystems. The book also reports on the adoption of transdisciplinary methods, combining ecological, agronomic, and socio-economic research, along with participatory methods involving farmers in research to document ethnobotanical and farmer knowledge, revealing rich spots of agrobiodiversity maintained in landscapes, seed systems, and nurseries managed by farmers. It covers a range of ecosystems and biocultural landscapes from arid tropics, tropical hillsides and savannas, montane rainforests, and coastal areas. It examines how family farms in diverse Cuban ecosystems use biodiversity, agro-ecological knowledge, and techniques while sustaining natural and farming landscapes in a scenario of climate change, frequent disasters, and socio-economic and policy changes.

This book will be most suitable for those studying or interested in farming practices, biodiversity conservation, food security, agrobiodiversity, and sustainable development, as well as in Cuban studies.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title Page
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• About the Editors
• List of Contributors
• Foreword
• Introduction
• 1 The Cuban Archipelago: Biological diversity, ecosystems and landscapes
• 2 The System of National Reserves in Cuba: Conserving biodiversity and ecosystem services
• 3 The western mountains: The Sierra del Rosario Biosphere Reserve
• 4 The eastern mountains: Cuchillas del Toa Biosphere Reserve
• 5 The lagoons: Peninsula de Guanahacabibes Biosphere Reserve
• 6 On the edge of Sierra Maestra: Baconao Biosphere Reserve
• 7 Nature’s Matrix: The quality of managed and natural landscapes
• 8 The background of international projects on agrobiodiversity in Cuba
• 9 Measuring farm environmental sustainability in the Sierra del Rosario Biosphere Reserve
• 10 Ecosystem services in agrobiodiversity and family farms: Indicators of social and ecological resilience
• 11 Family farms as innovative living labs in agroecology and transfer of knowledge
• 12 The conuco in Cuban agricultural systems and its contribution to agrobiodiversity
• 13 Urban agriculture: A view from Cuba
• 14 Cuba’s farming market: Opportunities for development
• 15 Valorisation of products and services from Biosphere Reserves of Cuba
• 16 Voices of the farmers: Representations of sustainable farming and agrobiodiversity
• Annex
• Index