ENVIRONMENT-LATAM: UNEP Launches Video Library Network in Cuba

By Dalia Acosta Reprint | | Print |

Dalia Acosta

HAVANA, Jun 6 2001 (IPS) - The United Nations Environment Programme’s (UNEP) Latin America and Caribbean office launched the region’s first network of “environmental video libraries” in Cuba Tuesday, as part of the commemoration of World Environment Day.

UNEP selected Havana and the northern Italian city of Torino to host this year’s keynote events celebrating World Environment Day.

Cuba’s Environment Agency received 250 video recordings on green-friendly production techniques, fishing, the sugar industry and other matters of particular interest to this country, in exchange for local materials to be donated to UNEP’s regional fund of videos.

Rather than merely bombarding people with information on the environment, the project is designed to provide instruments helping people to participate in tackling the main environmental challenges facing Latin America and the Caribbean.

“Without the participation and commitment of children, teens and adults, it will be impossible to revert Latin America’s current environmental woes,” said Rody Oñate, communications and public information officer at UNEP’s regional office.

The materials to form part of the regional network of video libraries are generally only viewed by “select groups dedicated to studying the environment,” but will now be distributed throughout the countries forming part of the new network, he noted.

Oñate stressed that the aim of the video libraries was to “provide citizens with tools that will enable them to become part of the solution” to the environmental problems that affect them.

The UN official said the agency’s current stock of videotapes could double or triple in size thanks to contributions from members of the new network. Conversations have already begun with Chile and Panama to bring them into the system.

The presentation of the video library formed part of the agenda of World Environment Day activities held Tuesday in Cuba under the slogan “Connect Yourself to the Worldwide Web of Life”.

The events also included the planting of 2001 trees, a massive clean-up campaign, concerts and performances by artists from a number of disciplines, scientific seminars and a bicycle tour through the country.

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, meanwhile, officially launched in Torino a four-year UN-sponsored study on the earth’s ecosystems that will involve 1,500 scientific researchers.

The “Millenium Ecosystem Assessment” will have a price tag of 21 million dollars, and will “fill gaps in the knowledge we need to preserve the health of our planet,” Annan said Tuesday.

In Cuba, Oñate stressed in conversation with IPS the “truly participative” character of the environmental activities of local organisations like the “pioneers” to which most Cuban schoolchildren belong.

This year, the José Martí Organisation of Pioneers and the non- governmental Cubasolar received the Global 500 award that UNEP grants individuals and organisations that have made an outstanding contribution to conserving the environment.

Gisela Alonso, director of Cuba’s Environment Agency, underlined the importance of the videos provided by UNEP, at a time when the government of Fidel Castro is implementing a policy of “bringing culture to the masses.”

Alonso said the video recordings could be shown in the audiovisual rooms of the “Young Computer Users Club” that have been opened in every municipality and in community libraries.

“Solar energy is also being installed in mountainous areas where there is no electricity,” which means the videos could begin to be shown there as well, she added.

The designation of Havana as one of the hosts of UNEP’s World Environment Day events was regarded in Cuba as recognition of its efforts to curb deforestation and air pollution, and eliminate ozone-depleting substances.

UNEP Executive Director Klaus Töpfer is holding an official visit to Cuba Tuesday through Friday, and plans to meet with Vice- President Carlos Lage.

Töpfer will also give a conference in the Ministry of Science, Technology and the Environment, and will tour Old Havana and visit the keys off Cuba’s northern coast, where a sustainable development project is being carried out with the support of United Nations agencies.

World Environment Day is commemorated every June 5th since 1972, on the initiative of UNEP. In the 1990s, the central events were held in Australia, Russia, South Korea, Turkey, South Africa, Britain, China, Brazil, Sweden and Mexico.