Illustrative image taken from Factor de Éxito magazine.

By María Josefina Arce 

Environmental protection is a policy of the Cuban State, which in addition to developing actions in the national territory to mitigate the effects of climate change, shares its experience and knowledge in this field with other nations.

Its participation in initiatives such as the Biological Corridor in the Caribbean is well known. Prestigious Cuban scientific institutions support with technical and human resources this project aimed at favoring biodiversity conservation actions.

Launched in 2007, the initiative today brings together Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Cuba and Jamaica, the latter having joined in December last year. 

Havana has also made available to Haiti and the Dominican Republic the response mechanisms developed by its renowned Civil Defense to reduce the damage caused by the increasingly frequent and intense meteorological phenomena resulting from climate change.

As pro tempore president of the Group of 77, the Caribbean nation has insisted on the importance of cooperation to mitigate and adapt to this phenomenon, while advocating for the necessary access to sufficient financial mechanisms and resources, in order to implement the measures required by each country to face the challenge posed by climate change.

Photo taken from PortalCuba

On this last aspect, Cuban President Miguel Díaz Canel pointed out that for developing nations, confronting climate change is a colossal challenge, in the context of how much we have yet to achieve sustainable development and eradicate poverty.

Therefore, at the center of Cuba's actions at the head of the coordination mechanism has been to encourage the protection of the planet. Hence, it has shared several projects to address this problem with other States, especially vulnerable ones.

Another important step on this path is the Summit of Leaders of the Group of 77, in the context of the twenty-eighth Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP28), which began on the 30th in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

The event of the Group of 77 was preceded by debates of representatives of the member nations on the progress of the coordination of issues and negotiations carried out in meetings prior to the meeting.

This is a new opportunity to reflect and consolidate a common position of the bloc in defense of the interests and needs of the South in this matter.

As a nation and pro tempore president of the Group of 77, Cuba speaks for the least developed countries, for their aspirations and demands in the face of the challenge posed by climate change, in the midst of an unjust international financial architecture.