Abstract

HASDENTEUFEL, Peter; MATEO RODRIGUEZ, José M.; BAUME, O.  and  TORRES GOMEZ DE CADIZ, Roy Justo. Geoecology as a tool for environmental management: A study of the superficial hydrographic basin of Quibu river, Province La Habana city, Cuba. Rev. Univ. geogr. [online]. 2008, vol.17, n.1, pp. 309-329. ISSN 1852-4265.

Development in Cuba during the last four decades has resulted in an insufficient sustainable handling of the environment and natural resources, e.g. water, in particular in regions with high settlement pressure such as the urban-rural interface of Havana City. Transformation processes have partially resulted in a radical change of land use systems and in the intensive use of existing resources, causing serious environmental and urban problems. The international research project "Cooperative applied environmental systems research of urban-rural interface (CAESAR) - Sustainability in water management and land use", funded within the FP5-Programme (INCO-DEV) of the European Commission, focused on the development of sustainable environmental management systems for land use and water management for the urban-rural interface in the Havana City region. An integrated and interdisciplinary geoecological analysis and assessment of environmental systems built the scientific basis of the project. Recent processes relating to landscape degradation, current and historical land use were analysed. In accordance with natural, economical and social basic conditions, scenario-based guidelines were drawn up for sustainable territorial planning, from which recommendations for a suitable land use planning and an adequate water management could be derived.

Keywords : Geoecology; Sustainable Environmental Management; Urban-Rural Interface; Integrative Environmental Management; Integrated Water Resources Management - IWRM.