Cuba's Minister of Science, Technology, and Environment, Elba Rosa Pérez, addressed the COP26.
Glasgow, November 10 (RHC)-- Cuba's Minister of Science, Technology, and Environment (CITMA), Elba Rosa Pérez, urged developed countries to fulfill their financial and technological commitments to confront climate change.
Addressing delegates at the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, also known as COP26, underway in Glasgow, Scotland, Perez recalled that the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report corroborates the seriousness of the current climate crisis.
"For this reason, in this COP26 we must not miss the opportunity to give the answer that humanity is waiting for," she stressed.
The Cuban minister pointed out that in Cuba's case, science forecasts an increase in air temperature of up to 4.5 degrees Celsius by the end of this century, a reduction in rainfall of between 20 and 60 percent, and an increase in the average sea level of 29 centimeters within 30 years.
In this regard, Pérez explained that the Cuban government designed a plan known as 'Tarea Vida' (Life Task) to face and mitigate the impact of climate change, which in its first stage included the relocation of a group of human settlements located in areas that will be submerged by 2050.
Mangroves were also planted and restored, beaches were preserved and rehabilitated, and work was done to educate and involve the population, particularly young people, in the project.
According to the minister, it is expected that by 2023 the main agricultural chains of the Caribbean island will have adaptation plans in place to ensure food security, while electric vehicles will gradually be introduced.
We are preparing to achieve a low-carbon development strategy, said Perez, who clarified that all these tasks are being undertaken despite the tightening of the 6-decade U.S. blockade on Cuba
In that sense, the head of the Cuban delegation at COP26 reiterated her country's rejection of any measure that implies the exclusion or limitation for some nations to receive international funds to implement their obligations under the Convention and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.
Our future is decided today and will depend on a new system of climate management and innovation, involving all social and economic actors, to consciously increase ambition in adaptation and mitigation to urgently achieve global goals, added Pérez, who reaffirmed Cuba's commitment to maintaining South-South cooperation and in particular with island nations.
The COP26 in Glasgow will conclude this Friday and is seen as the last chance the world has to stop global warming, reduce carbon emissions to zero and provide funds to help poor and vulnerable countries to face and mitigate the impact of climate change.
