SUSTAINABILITY OF LIVELIHOODS AND SOCIO-ENVIRONMENTAL VULNERABILITY: SHARED KNOWLEDGE BETWEEN BRAZIL AND CUBA

Abstract

Agreements between research institutions both from Brazil and Cuba have been a key-point on the approximation of researchers concerned with matters such as the challenges presented by climate change to communities, mainly those related to extreme weather events. Thus – based on qualitative data – this paper presents a discussion on sustainability livelihoods and suggests some strategies to decrease the vulnerability of two communities, one from the north of Brazil and the other from the south-east part of Cuba. The method applied includes reviewing documents and previous studies and observations of the aforementioned areas. Also, we applied the Matrix Strong Attributes, Opportunities, Weaknesses and Threats (SWOT) to obtain local-based information – which was then separated in groups and indicated low sustainability of both communities regarding the matrices Weaknesses and Threats. Based on the results, we bring forth the relevance of institutional cooperation and implementation of efficient policies to assist and empower both communities.