US blockade makes climate change`s confrontation difficult

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Bloqueo estadounidense dificulta enfrentamiento al cambio climático

“The North American government voted against the approval of the Mi Costa project, supported by the Green Climate Fund to increase the capacity for adaptation and resilience of 1.3 million people in population settlements located in more than 1,300 kilometers of the southern coast of the Island, including the town of Júcaro, in the province of Ciego de Ávila”, Rafael Pérez Carmenate, delegate of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment (CITMA by its Spanish initials) in the province of Ciego de Ávila, denounced.

The economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the United States government constitutes the main handicap to advance in the implementation of the Cuban State Plan to confront climate change (Life Task), Mr. Pérez, also deputy to the National Assembly of Popular Power, affirmed.

The limitations of access to multilateral banks, financing of external projects and equipment with a US component greater than 10 percent, make it difficult to invest and acquire advanced technology to mitigate and achieve greater adaptation to the effects of climate change.

Despite the obstacles, in four years, the Life Task made progress in the execution of the zoning plans, as 11 percent of the homes threatened by the changing climate were relocated; greater adaptation of key crops for food security in the nation was achieved and the use of electric transportation is promoted, according to information from the ACN.

The agency itself highlighted the actions to increase the forest cover, which functions as a protector of the coastline and hydrographic basins, and a sink for greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere; the realization of investments in different sectors to counteract the effects of the climate, and the strengthening of policies for soil management.

Currently, the emphasis is on tasks related to tourism, food production, construction and the organization of communities, but the Life Task covers all areas, ACN stressed.

The vulnerability of the Island to the impacts of climate change increases the interest of the Cuban Government to mitigate the effects of coastal erosion, floods, saline intrusion, drought and rising sea levels, environmental problems that put at risk the economic and social results of the nation.

"Projections show that, if interventions are not carried out, by the end of the 21st century, some 21 coastal communities will disappear completely in Cuba, and more than 98 of them will be severely affected by threats related to the climate," the Dr. Odalys Goicochea, head of the CITMA General Directorate for the Environment, in statements to the international press, said.