Hablemos de los Árboles Urbanos

In October 2022, Friends of Havana partnered with the Antonio Núñez Jiménez Foundation for Nature and Humanity (FANJ) to organize the international workshop Hablemos de los Árboles Urbanos at the historic Quinta de los Molinos in Havana. The four-day event brought together Cuban specialists and international experts to address the deterioration of Havana’s urban tree canopy and explore how better planning and management could strengthen the city’s environmental resilience.

Participants included Cuban researchers and public officials from institutions such as the National Botanical Garden, CITMA, and Havana’s forestry services, alongside international specialists including Fabio Salbitano (University of Florence), Antoni Falcón (Materia Verda, Barcelona), Carlos Javier Llanos (Grupo Asfor, Colombia), and Eduardo Medina, an urban forestry specialist working in Chicago. Their presentations helped situate Havana’s challenges within broader international experience in managing urban trees and green infrastructure.

Through panels, working groups, and field visits—including a visit to the Agroforestry Company nursery at El Chico—the workshop examined issues such as the legal framework for urban tree management, species diversity and nursery production, the use of digital tools to inventory and monitor trees, and the role of citizens in protecting and expanding urban greenery.

The workshop concluded with a series of practical recommendations aimed at strengthening Havana’s capacity to manage its urban forest. These included developing specialized nurseries for urban tree species, creating a comprehensive census of the city’s trees using modern mapping tools, improving institutional coordination around urban forestry, and establishing training programs to develop a new generation of professional arborists in Cuba.