When I visited my family in Nicaragua after Hurricane Irma in September, I was thrilled to have 24/7 fast internet—a luxury we don’t yet have at Finca Tungasuk (as you may know, internet access is still challenging in the Cuban countryside, though hopefully that will change soon!). While I was there, I saw a Facebook link announcing an upcoming UN CC: e-Learn Platform course: “The National Adaptation Plans: Building Climate Resilience in Agriculture.”
Being away from the farm allowed me the time and distance to process what had just happened to us and to roughly 75% of the island. We had just endured a very active hurricane season in 2017, and it was my first time experiencing the impact of a severe weather event like Hurricane Irma from the countryside. We lost some trees and sustained damages, but we fared relatively “well” compared to the central and eastern parts of the country. (You can find more information in this report on Hurricane Irma and Cuba). I immediately started questioning what we could have done to avoid some of the losses and damages caused by the wind on the farm, and what measures we could take to prepare for another event like it.
It felt like perfect timing to gain access to such a vast reservoir of resources on climate change information, mitigation, and adaptation actions.