José Manuel Mateo Rodríguez

Geographer and professor at the Faculty of Geography, University of La Habana. Academic of the Academy of Sciences of Cuba.

Licensed in Geography, Doctor in Geographic and Environmental Sciences, Full Professor. Member of the Commission on Land Degradation and Desertification of the International Geographical Union. Representative of the University of La Habana in the Latin America–Europe Environmental Network. Member of the International Association of Landscape Ecology. Member of the Directive of the Cuban National Committee of the International Geographical Union. Member of the Expert Council of the National Program of Science and Technology "Global Changes and the Cuban Environment". Member of the National Court of Scientific Degrees in Geography. Member of the Directive of the Cuban Society for Environmental Protection "ProNaturaleza". Member of the Board of Directors of the Cuban Society of Geography. Member of the Cuban Committee of UNESCO's MAB Program. Member of the Scientific Council of the University of La Habana. Member of the Speleological Society of Cuba. Work specialty: Environment and Development, Landscape Science and Environmental Planning.

Licensed in Geography from the University of La Habana, in 1970.

Doctor in Geographic Sciences, defended at Moscow State University, in December 1979, with the thesis Landscapes of Cuba.

Doctor in Sciences, defended at the University of La Habana in 2007, with the thesis. Contributions to the Formulation of a Theory on Environmental Sustainability."

Full Professor at the Faculty of Geography of the University of La Habana, since 1983
Full Academic of the Republic of Cuba since 2002.

Has taught undergraduate and graduate courses, in various master's programs and postdoctoral programs in Cuba, Brazil, Venezuela, Mexico, Colombia.

Teaches the disciplines of: Environmental Planning, Environment and Development, Geography and Geoecology of Landscapes, Cultural Landscapes.

Has directed 8 doctoral theses and 12 master's theses.

Currently is the Coordinator of the Doctorate in Geography, Environment and Development, carried out by the Faculty of Geography of the University of La Habana.

Visiting professor at the Federal University of Ceará and State University of São Paulo in Brazil on 7 occasions, since 1992
Has published 12 textbooks, four of them in Brazil.

Has published 120 articles in national and international journals. Has presented works at 105 national and international events. Has worked on various projects in the field of Landscapes, Environment and Development and Environmental Planning, and has directed since 2002 a project on "Territorial Sustainability in the City of La Habana" associated with the European Community.

Had responsibilities as Department Head and Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Geography of the University of La Habana, from 1980 to 1992. Was director of the University Center for the Environment of the University of La Habana from 1992 to 2000.

Member of the board of the Cuban NGO Pro Naturaleza, and member of various national scientific organizations, and of the International Association of Landscape Ecology.

President since 2010 of the Cuban Society of Geography.
Honored on two occasions by the Latin American and Ibero-American Seminar of Physical Geography, in 2011 in Portugal, in 2012 in Brazil.

Award of criticism for the scientific technical book published in 2012, with his book The Environmental Dimension of Sustainable Development. A View from Latin America.

Other publications:
Environment and Geopolitics

Died at age 72 as a result of cancer on July 26, 2019. His work as a geographer was oriented toward landscape studies and reached its peak when he defended his doctorate in sciences, Cuba's second doctorate, on his contributions to the formulation of a theory on environmental sustainability. The economic value of his work as a scientist is very difficult to estimate, because one would have to calculate how much would not have been done or would have been done poorly without his wisdom.