Paris, December 1 (RHC-PL) -- Cuban First Vice President Miguel Díaz-Canel said in Paris that a lasting solution to global warming inevitably entails poverty eradication and a new, more equitable world economic order.

Delivering a speech Monday on the opening day of the UN Climate Change Conference 2015 (COP21) in Paris, France, the Cuban first vice president said: "A true, fair and lasting solution to climate change should entail drastic changes to today's production and consumption patterns, the eradication of poverty and backwardness and the promotion of a new, more just and equitable world economic order.”

Diaz-Canel recalled that 23 years have already passed since the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, when then Cuban President Fidel Castro warned that the very survival of the human species on our planet was at risk due to the speedy, progressive destruction of its habitat.

First Vice President Diaz-Canel, who is heading the Cuban delegation at the two-week climate change talks, urged the participating world leaders to limit global temperature rise to around 1.5 degrees Celsius, as demanded by small island developing states, which are regarded as the most affected by climate change.

The head of the Cuban delegation to the climate talks in Paris stressed that the fight against global warming and its effects should never be used as a pretext to hinder the development of those countries that need it the most, nor hamper their efforts to eradicate poverty and hunger.