Environmental impact of self-employment and its prevention in Cuba

Abstract

The increase and diversification of the goods and services offered by self-employment and their consumption may cause adverse environmental impacts of high significance if these activities are not developed in a sustainable way. Therefore, it is necessary that self-employed persons, in addition to the contribution to the development of the country's economy and the support provided to their families, ensure the conservation and protection of the environment where carry out their activities. The present paper has two objectives: To identify the main environmental impacts caused by self-employment, mainly those associated to the consumption of materials, energy and natural resources; waste generation and soil use and; as second objective, to present a proposal that, based on the principles of awareness raising, timely information to the involved workers and the promotion of good practices and self-responsible management, help to anticipate and prevent the above-mentioned impacts. It is concluded that the implementation of good environmental practices reports important benefits to society, as well as the self-employed citizens, because it guarantees that their activities as suppliers of an important service to the community and, on the other hand, as consumers of products, goods and services, don´t cause significant damages to the environment, economy and public health.