Human activities often drive landscape degradation and the associated loss of value. This paper d... more Human activities often drive landscape degradation and the associated loss of value. This paper describes a method that, by integrating multiple factors, characterize landscape value to establish relevant and effective management practices. The new integrated method for landscape assessment (IMLA) is a four-step model that includes: (i) establishment of a general theoretical basis for sustainability relevant metrics; (ii) characterization of the landscape; (iii) landscape valuation; (iv) recommendations for landscape value management. Each step includes different interactive components of analysis. The new IMLA considers the potential range of values associated with each landscape unit and facilitates sustainable landscape management. The method is systematic and includes both inductive and deductive reasoning. Its articulation is represented in the conjunction and overlapping of all factors and variables considered. IMLA was tested in Santiago de Cuba Bay (Cuba) and used to determi...
Acordos celebrados entre instituições de ensino e fomento à pesquisa entre Brasil e Cuba têm apro... more Acordos celebrados entre instituições de ensino e fomento à pesquisa entre Brasil e Cuba têm aproximado pesquisadores para debater assuntos relacionados à capacitação de comunidades ao enfrentamento de mudanças ambientais, com destaque àquelas relacionadas aos eventos meteorológicos extremos. Este artigo apresenta uma discussão sobre sustentabilidade dos meios de vida e sugere estratégias para reduzir a vulnerabilidade socioambiental em duas comunidades, uma localizada na Região Norte do Brasil e a outra, na porção Sul-Oriental de Cuba, com base em indicadores qualitativos. Realizou-se revisão bibliográfica e documental, bem como observações nas áreas de estudo. Aplicou-se a Matriz Fortaleza, Oportunidades, Fraquezas e Ameaças (SWOT, em inglês), para obter informações de base local, as quais, após agrupadas nas dimensões do Capital, permitiram a construção de sete indicadores, que revelaram baixa sustentabilidade das comunidades pesquisadas. Com base nos resultados, ressalta-se a ...
La region Suroriental de Cuba constituye una zona vulnerable ante la actividad sismica y los efec... more La region Suroriental de Cuba constituye una zona vulnerable ante la actividad sismica y los efectos del cambio climatico. Este resultado cientifico parte del problema de investigacion relacionado con las insuficiencias en el actual modelo de ordenamiento y gestion de las zonas costeras del area de estudio para enfrentar los riesgos sismicos y costeros en el nuevo escenario del cambio climatico. Su objetivo es contribuir a la aplicacion de nuevos instrumentos para el ordenamiento y manejo integrado de la zona costera en la region Suroriental de Cuba, asi como a la formacion de capacidades para la gestion del riesgo, mediante un modelo participativo que integre los procesos socioeconomicos, culturales, fisicos geograficos y juridicos institucionales que tienen lugar en la interface tierra-aire-mar. El trabajo se estructura en tres etapas y aporta a la comunidad cientifica resultados que permiten demarcar Unidades Costeras Ambientales para el Manejo y el Ordenamiento Territorial y un ...
This paper presents a coastal migration index (CMI) useful for decision-making in the current sce... more This paper presents a coastal migration index (CMI) useful for decision-making in the current scenario of sea-level rise (SLR) due to climate change. The CMI includes coastal human population density, degree of urbanization, and coastal-flooding penetration. Quantitative and qualitative statistical techniques and the geographic information system ArcGIS View 9.0 were used. Further, a panel of fifteen international experts in coastal management issues was consulted to establish and validate the CMI. Results led to three index components based on 22 indicators. CMI was applied in the state of Tamaulipas, Mexico and in Santiago de Cuba province, Cuba. According to CMI estimates, the risk levels associated with SLR for human settlements analyzed in Mexico and Cuba were 5.3% and 11.0%, respectively. The most severely affected communities will require resettlement. Meanwhile, the CMI determined that 15.8% of the Mexican territory studied will be able to withstand the effects of SLR throug...
The COVID-19 pandemic has implications for coastal planning and management. Rules for isolation a... more The COVID-19 pandemic has implications for coastal planning and management. Rules for isolation and physical distancing, among other measures for human life protection, have led to the closure of most beaches around the world. The present critical situation has raised the following question: How can some recommendations be designed in sun, sea, and sand tourism-dependent-insular countries to face "the COVID-19 new normality?" We used the content analysis technique to analyze representative publications on a global level to ascertain information on best management practices. A survey of 58 experts provided additional information. We used inferential statistics for sample selection and produced a list of 43 practices and beach planning and management actions to face the COVID-19 pandemic. This led to 27 new recommendations designed for beach planning and management within insular contexts, some of which were tested in the Republic of Cuba. Recommendations aim to guarantee a culture of safety and improvement within the field of beach or coastal planning and management. These recommendations should prove useful for other insular countries, during the COVID-19 period, in the new normality that follows, and in other post-pandemic scenarios.
This article uses the category of spatial justice as an analytical variable to explore the coasta... more This article uses the category of spatial justice as an analytical variable to explore the coastal planning of Cuba and Brazil, in the face of the challenge of climate change. The research was conducted using a qualitative methodology, applying the technique of content analysis to instruments of physical planning, based on spatial justice indicators provided in the study. These included territorial boundaries, uses of coastal space, environmental conflicts, public participation, urban insecurity, climate migration, and social exclusion, which enabled integration of coastal planning elements in the dimensions of space, policies, and tensions in different socio-economic contexts. New variables are added to the concept of spatial justice and it is shown that this constitutes an analytical category, which, expressed through coastal planning, puts both countries in better conditions to face the impacts of climate change.
In Cuba, since 1959, the energy, environment and socioeconomic development have been given high p... more In Cuba, since 1959, the energy, environment and socioeconomic development have been given high priority in national development plans. Fifty years later, the Cuban people have achieved a society with notable advances in literacy and education, health, culture, sports, social security and per capita of the gross domestic product (GDP), which has permitted the attainment of a sustainable development, according to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) report in 2006. The energy sector has been evolving constantly in the last 50 years, achieving as the main result the distribution of electricity to 97% of the country, the growth of domestic oil production to achieve about 47% of the total consumption, the introduction of the distributed generation of electricity reaching 40% on the generation, rehabilitation of the electric appliances, systematization of the Cuban Electricity Conservation Program (PAEC), the Energy Conservation Program of the Ministry of Education (PAEME) and rapid introduction of renewable energy technologies, with good results in demand side management, energy efficiency and energy education. Actually, soil degradation, deforestation, pollution, loss of biological diversity and lack of water have been identified as the main environmental problems; several plans and projects have been applied, in order to reduce their impact, following the policy expressed in the National Environmental Strategy. However, challenges exist for future development in Cuba in coming years, from an economical point of view will be necessary the enhancement of the economic relations with the American and European countries, to solve internal problems such as insufficient productivity, correspondence between the level of activities with the financial, material and human resources, to promote growth in the levels of exports and to achieve the substitution of imported basic food; the energy sector need to achieve growth in the levels of prospection and exploitation of domestic oil, to diversify fossil energy and energetic technologies suppliers, energy efficiency and the use of renewable energy; the protection of the environment will demand to develop research about adaptation and mitigation of climate change, conservation and rational use of natural resources, in particular, the lands, water and forests.
Human activities often drive landscape degradation and the associated loss of value. This paper d... more Human activities often drive landscape degradation and the associated loss of value. This paper describes a method that, by integrating multiple factors, characterize landscape value to establish relevant and effective management practices. The new integrated method for landscape assessment (IMLA) is a four-step model that includes: (i) establishment of a general theoretical basis for sustainability relevant metrics; (ii) characterization of the landscape; (iii) landscape valuation; (iv) recommendations for landscape value management. Each step includes different interactive components of analysis. The new IMLA considers the potential range of values associated with each landscape unit and facilitates sustainable landscape management. The method is systematic and includes both inductive and deductive reasoning. Its articulation is represented in the conjunction and overlapping of all factors and variables considered. IMLA was tested in Santiago de Cuba Bay (Cuba) and used to determi...
Acordos celebrados entre instituições de ensino e fomento à pesquisa entre Brasil e Cuba têm apro... more Acordos celebrados entre instituições de ensino e fomento à pesquisa entre Brasil e Cuba têm aproximado pesquisadores para debater assuntos relacionados à capacitação de comunidades ao enfrentamento de mudanças ambientais, com destaque àquelas relacionadas aos eventos meteorológicos extremos. Este artigo apresenta uma discussão sobre sustentabilidade dos meios de vida e sugere estratégias para reduzir a vulnerabilidade socioambiental em duas comunidades, uma localizada na Região Norte do Brasil e a outra, na porção Sul-Oriental de Cuba, com base em indicadores qualitativos. Realizou-se revisão bibliográfica e documental, bem como observações nas áreas de estudo. Aplicou-se a Matriz Fortaleza, Oportunidades, Fraquezas e Ameaças (SWOT, em inglês), para obter informações de base local, as quais, após agrupadas nas dimensões do Capital, permitiram a construção de sete indicadores, que revelaram baixa sustentabilidade das comunidades pesquisadas. Com base nos resultados, ressalta-se a ...
La region Suroriental de Cuba constituye una zona vulnerable ante la actividad sismica y los efec... more La region Suroriental de Cuba constituye una zona vulnerable ante la actividad sismica y los efectos del cambio climatico. Este resultado cientifico parte del problema de investigacion relacionado con las insuficiencias en el actual modelo de ordenamiento y gestion de las zonas costeras del area de estudio para enfrentar los riesgos sismicos y costeros en el nuevo escenario del cambio climatico. Su objetivo es contribuir a la aplicacion de nuevos instrumentos para el ordenamiento y manejo integrado de la zona costera en la region Suroriental de Cuba, asi como a la formacion de capacidades para la gestion del riesgo, mediante un modelo participativo que integre los procesos socioeconomicos, culturales, fisicos geograficos y juridicos institucionales que tienen lugar en la interface tierra-aire-mar. El trabajo se estructura en tres etapas y aporta a la comunidad cientifica resultados que permiten demarcar Unidades Costeras Ambientales para el Manejo y el Ordenamiento Territorial y un ...
This paper presents a coastal migration index (CMI) useful for decision-making in the current sce... more This paper presents a coastal migration index (CMI) useful for decision-making in the current scenario of sea-level rise (SLR) due to climate change. The CMI includes coastal human population density, degree of urbanization, and coastal-flooding penetration. Quantitative and qualitative statistical techniques and the geographic information system ArcGIS View 9.0 were used. Further, a panel of fifteen international experts in coastal management issues was consulted to establish and validate the CMI. Results led to three index components based on 22 indicators. CMI was applied in the state of Tamaulipas, Mexico and in Santiago de Cuba province, Cuba. According to CMI estimates, the risk levels associated with SLR for human settlements analyzed in Mexico and Cuba were 5.3% and 11.0%, respectively. The most severely affected communities will require resettlement. Meanwhile, the CMI determined that 15.8% of the Mexican territory studied will be able to withstand the effects of SLR throug...
The COVID-19 pandemic has implications for coastal planning and management. Rules for isolation a... more The COVID-19 pandemic has implications for coastal planning and management. Rules for isolation and physical distancing, among other measures for human life protection, have led to the closure of most beaches around the world. The present critical situation has raised the following question: How can some recommendations be designed in sun, sea, and sand tourism-dependent-insular countries to face "the COVID-19 new normality?" We used the content analysis technique to analyze representative publications on a global level to ascertain information on best management practices. A survey of 58 experts provided additional information. We used inferential statistics for sample selection and produced a list of 43 practices and beach planning and management actions to face the COVID-19 pandemic. This led to 27 new recommendations designed for beach planning and management within insular contexts, some of which were tested in the Republic of Cuba. Recommendations aim to guarantee a culture of safety and improvement within the field of beach or coastal planning and management. These recommendations should prove useful for other insular countries, during the COVID-19 period, in the new normality that follows, and in other post-pandemic scenarios.
This article uses the category of spatial justice as an analytical variable to explore the coasta... more This article uses the category of spatial justice as an analytical variable to explore the coastal planning of Cuba and Brazil, in the face of the challenge of climate change. The research was conducted using a qualitative methodology, applying the technique of content analysis to instruments of physical planning, based on spatial justice indicators provided in the study. These included territorial boundaries, uses of coastal space, environmental conflicts, public participation, urban insecurity, climate migration, and social exclusion, which enabled integration of coastal planning elements in the dimensions of space, policies, and tensions in different socio-economic contexts. New variables are added to the concept of spatial justice and it is shown that this constitutes an analytical category, which, expressed through coastal planning, puts both countries in better conditions to face the impacts of climate change.
In Cuba, since 1959, the energy, environment and socioeconomic development have been given high p... more In Cuba, since 1959, the energy, environment and socioeconomic development have been given high priority in national development plans. Fifty years later, the Cuban people have achieved a society with notable advances in literacy and education, health, culture, sports, social security and per capita of the gross domestic product (GDP), which has permitted the attainment of a sustainable development, according to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) report in 2006. The energy sector has been evolving constantly in the last 50 years, achieving as the main result the distribution of electricity to 97% of the country, the growth of domestic oil production to achieve about 47% of the total consumption, the introduction of the distributed generation of electricity reaching 40% on the generation, rehabilitation of the electric appliances, systematization of the Cuban Electricity Conservation Program (PAEC), the Energy Conservation Program of the Ministry of Education (PAEME) and rapid introduction of renewable energy technologies, with good results in demand side management, energy efficiency and energy education. Actually, soil degradation, deforestation, pollution, loss of biological diversity and lack of water have been identified as the main environmental problems; several plans and projects have been applied, in order to reduce their impact, following the policy expressed in the National Environmental Strategy. However, challenges exist for future development in Cuba in coming years, from an economical point of view will be necessary the enhancement of the economic relations with the American and European countries, to solve internal problems such as insufficient productivity, correspondence between the level of activities with the financial, material and human resources, to promote growth in the levels of exports and to achieve the substitution of imported basic food; the energy sector need to achieve growth in the levels of prospection and exploitation of domestic oil, to diversify fossil energy and energetic technologies suppliers, energy efficiency and the use of renewable energy; the protection of the environment will demand to develop research about adaptation and mitigation of climate change, conservation and rational use of natural resources, in particular, the lands, water and forests.
Uploads
Papers by Ofelia Perez