Proactive Planning for Resilience: Protocols for Community-Led Climate Adaptation in Virginia

Cuba Tarea Vida

As an island nation, Cuba directly faces the threat of worsening climate change impacts from rising sea levels to increasing surface temperature, which is already impacting the country as its climate shifts from humid tropical to dry tropical.¹ Following the devastation of Hurricane Irma in 2017, Cuba resolved to create a 100-year plan for addressing climate impacts, called the Enfrentamiento al Cambio Climático en la República de Cuba: Tarea Vida (“Confronting Climate Change in the Republic of Cuba: Life Task”) plan, or simply Tarea Vida.² The plan includes targets in 2020, 2030, 2050 and 2100, which are based on various climate scenarios that are representations of future climate constructed from sound scientific principles and methods. These representations are used to provide an understanding of the response of environmental and social systems to future climate change. Key components of Tarea Vida are the utilization of this long-term timeline, implementation of nature based solutions, early integration of managed retreat, and the use of community education programs.  While it is important to keep in mind the vast difference between the governing structures of Cuba versus Virginia, the creation and usage of this ambitious plan provides lessons for long-term planning and the successful strategies which they employ that can inform Virginia policymaking. Many of the planned measures are still reactive rather than preventive, or are formulated for the short term. Ultimately this has to do with balancing known short-term impacts of climate change with longer-term possible situations. Virginia policymakers will likely confront the same challenge, and should candidly identify areas of need in the short and long run.

Nature Based Solutions

Several of the goals outlined in the Tarea Vida focus on strengthening coastal defenses by restoring degraded habitats. To accomplish these goals, Cuba has relied primarily on nature-based solutions as a cost-effective strategy to maximize the protective services of marine and coastal ecosystems. These solutions include mangrove, coral, and seagrass restoration, beach protection and replenishment, and reforestation.³ The specifics and benefits of certain solutions are outlined in the box below. Successful implementation of these solutions has accompanied active engagement with the community, with the provinces of Artemisa and Mayabeque being prime examples where local leaders identified restoration needs and worked with the central government to address them.4 Nature-based solutions are also often much cheaper than typical ‘gray’ infrastructure, as shown in a cost-benefit analysis comparing rock, concrete, and mangrove breakwaters in Cuba to prevent flooding that concluded mangrove habitat preservation and rehabilitation was up to 50 times less costly as opposed to traditional gray infrastructure.5 That study, and the emphasis on nature-based solutions in the Tarea Vida highlight their importance for sustainability in the long-term and their efficacy in achieving coastal protection for at-risk communities.

Managed Retreat

The Tarea Vida mandates that the government reduce the vulnerability of built heritage and prioritize help for threatened coastal settlements. In pursuing this, the government created new home construction bans in these areas, and mandated the relocation of communities that cannot be saved from rising sea levels6 – something that would not occur in America absent the identification of a significant health or public safety risk. The Cuban government provides support for relocation, including new home and infrastructure construction in designated zones, with the requirement of community-involved decision-making. In the five-year update of the plan in 2022, the Cuban government highlighted how vulnerable provinces had developed their own plans for relocation based on climate projections for 2050 and 2100.7 The first communities began moving in 2017 such as the community of Palmarito.8 During the execution of the first stage (2018-2019), 158 homes (11% of homes in settlements that will feel the worst effects by 2050) were moved successfully from the provinces of Pinar del Río, Villa Clara, and Holguín to less risky areas.9

However, there has been some resistance from localities, such as residents from Camagüey, which is expected to be underwater by 2050 and has been identified for future relocation.10 This resistance is due to a lack of trust in the government, as some residents say that they do not believe that the rising ocean will affect them in the long or short run and they do not understand why they need to move.11 This echoes challenges faced by government-led relocation efforts in the United States, as well. Another source of friction is that the building restrictions have not been implemented equitably since relocation mandates have only been applied to small coastal villages and not to tourist areas.12 Furthermore, citizens and the government regard risks differently, as villagers see the primary risk as moving away from where they have friendships, history, livelihoods and a link to the water. Residents prioritize continuity and a sense of belonging in a way that may not align with the public safety, economic, and long-term investment priorities of the Cuban government.13 These concerns also echo challenges faced by Virginia localities as they consider relocating vulnerable communities in high-risk areas, highlighting the need to fully engage these communities and discuss their concerns and needs.

Community Communication Strategy

Community communication is explicitly addressed in Tarea 10, which requires that a comprehensive communication plan must be undertaken to intensify people’s desire for action, increase their level of environmental knowledge, and strengthen the degree of their participation in efforts to confront climate change.14 The government has emphasized the strategy of talking with communities about relocating after major natural disasters, such as Hurricane Irma. Officials at the Ministerio de Ciencia,Tecnología y Medio Ambiente (Ministry of Science, Technology, and Environment) have discussed the importance of conducting outreach while climate impacts are directly and visibly affecting people’s lives.15 Part of the community communication is also the expansion of sustainability education programs, including the promotion of new sustainability focused Bachelor’s degrees.16

Key Takeaways

  1. Dedication to a long-term plan which has set targets at reasonable intervals – Given the short-term, medium-term, long-term, and very-long-term timeline targets, the plan ensures there is incentive to accomplish goals in a timely manner, allows for accountability of actors, and encourages future leaders to continue climate-focused policies.
  2. Utilization of scientifically backed annual maps to continue climate vulnerability evaluation – Using data from an agreed-upon climate model and in collaboration with government scientists, the Cuban government develops annually updated maps with priority zones for adaptation measures based on potential flood impacts. These maps are regenerated for each of the major target years, which provides up to date data to support planning for local communities’ needs.
  3. Restoration and protection of vulnerable lands and ecosystems through nature based solutions – These solutions become effective immediately after construction for increasing resilience and typically last longer than traditional infrastructure at a much lower cost.17 
  4. Early initiation of managed retreat discussions with local communities is key – There will be significant trust and priority alignment issues to resolve – Early planning and introduction of the concept of relocation allows local governments to prepare themselves and their communities. This empowers the communities and builds up a relationship between the communities and the central government.
  5. Seeking opportunities to educate the population about climate vulnerabilities – Local communities can look to established institutions to help lead the way on educating the public on different climate resilience alternatives, including managed retreat and nature based solutions. 
  6. Consideration of how different sectors will be affected by building climate resilience – Decision makers should take this important step to help identify which projects to prioritize and determine how singular initiatives can impact multiple different essential sectors.

¹ Ministerio de Ciencia,Tecnología y Medio Ambiente, “Tarea Vida: An Ambitious Plan to Address Climate Change,” 2019, undp.org/sites/g/files/zskgke326/files/migration/cu/79c4375d278252f07bb0c6398685ebbad412c2e4617b714647e83ec4168971a6.pdf.² Ministerio de Ciencia, Tecnología y Medio Ambiente, “Enfrentamiento al Cambio Climático en la República de Cuba: Tarea Vida (Confronting Climate Change in the Republic of Cuba),” 2017, financiamientoclimatico.cubaenergia.cu/index.php/descargas/8-folleto-tarea-vida/file.
³ Ibid; Ministerio, “Tarea Vida: An Ambitious,” (See 1)
4 Ministerio, “Enfrentamiento al Cambio Climático,” (See 2)
5 Katherine Angier, “Three lessons from Cuba about improving coastal climate resilience,” Environmental Defense Fund, April 4, 2019, blogs.edf.org/growingreturns/2019/04/04/cuba-lessons-coastal-climate-resilience/.
6 Ministerio, “Tarea Vida: An Ambitious,” (See 1)
7 Ibid.
8 “El Gobierno comienza a trasladar una población costera tierra adentro (Government begins to relocate coastal populations inland) ,” Diario de Cuba, November 6, 2017, diariodecuba.com/cuba/1509979876_35146.html.
9 Ministerio, Tarea Vida: An Ambitious,” (See 1)
10 Ibid.
11 “El CITMA quiere trasladara una comunidad costera: ‘Se hunde en un lento e irreversible proceso,’ dice (CITMA wants to relocate a coastal community inland: ‘It is sinking in a slow and irreversible process,’ it says),” Diario de Cuba, October 27, 2017, diariodecuba.com/cuba/1509089905_34909.html.
12 Ernesto Aragón-Duran, “The language of risk and the risk of language: Mismatches in risk response in Cuban coastal villages,” International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction 50 (2020), doi: 10.1016/j.ijdrr.2020.101712.
13 Ibid.
14 Ministerio, “Tarea Vida: An Ambitious,” (See 1); Maribel Brull-González & Daniel Velázquez-Oliva, “Agenda de comunicación para la Tarea Vida en la región oriental de Cuba (Communication agenda for the Tarea Vida in the eastern region of Cuba),” Ciencia en su PC 1, no.4 (2019):, 33–51. redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=181360994003.
15 Richard Stone, “Cuba’s 100-year plan for climate change,” Science 359, no. 6372 (2018): 144-14. doi: 10.1126/science.359.6372.144.
16 Enrique Yanes & Maricel Carrión, “Tarea Vida. Un tema que no admite espera en la carrera Licenciatura en Educación Mecanización (Tarea Vida: A topic that cannot delayed in the Bachelor’s Degree course in Mechanical Engineering)”, Evento GEA, March 2018. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/323750021_Tarea_Vida_Un_tema_que_no_admite_espera_en_la_carrera_Licenciatura_en_Educacion_Mecanizacion.
17 Angier, “Three lessons from Cuba,” (See 5)

Header Image
Stephen Colebourne. Taken April 28, 2011. Havana, Cuba. https://www.flickr.com/photos/jodastephen/

Scroll to Top