The opportunity to grow and contribute

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La oportunidad de crecer y aportar

Perhaps in 1992, upon graduating from Chemical Engineering at the University of Camagüey, she felt the frequent dissatisfaction with the work location; however, almost 30 years later, Yamilé Jiménez Peña speaks of the Bio-food Research Center (CIBA) of the province of Ciego de Ávila as a great opportunity.

From there, she has grown as a person and professional, broadened her spectrum of work, exchanged and socialized experiences, in addition to continuously improve herself, so that perseverance and self-denial have earned her the trust, admiration and respect of the workforce, for her other family, she says.

Her path, attitude and responsibility towards work make her an example before a team that promotes scientific development based on the Food Sovereignty and Nutrition Education Program, the State Plan to confront climate change and other prioritized tasks in Cuba and the orb.

The CIBA, she explains, gains more space in these times by joining university centers, communities, companies and the peasant sector, with the purpose of promoting food production and actions to conserve the environment, so that harmonious progress is achieved with the environment.

The efforts of her work team are present in local development strategies and multiple initiatives to guarantee an increase in crops and animal husbandry, despite the reduction in imports of inputs and the harmful effects of climate change.

There, it is also her “grain of sand”, from a scientific institution that leads projects related to the extension of the breeding of dark-coated pigs, the recovery of the dunes in the tourist destination Jardines del Rey and the integrated management of the Great North Wetland of Ciego de Ávila, she confirms.

In relation to the latter, she explained that much work has been done, but independently, from the perspective and vision of the entities represented there; therefore, it is necessary to combine these efforts and improve the studies to achieve better results.

This will allow the institution of an integrated management program that will become an effective tool for making decisions regarding the rational use of this ecosystem in its adaptation to climate change, she continued.

She emphasized that it is one of the projects that respond to the Life Task and government programs, led by Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, to integrate science into local development and the production of goods and services.

Master in Environmental Pollution, Jiménez Peña has worked lines of research related to confront the effects on water and soils, achieving proposals for the efficient management of animal waste in the sustainable production of food for human consumption.

Currently she works as one of the coordinators of the international project "Building coastal resilience in Cuba through natural solutions for adaptation to climate change", under the leadership of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment, with the cooperation of several world organizations.

She specified that this initiative integrates the Environment Agency and its National Risk Assessment Group, in close coordination with the Civil Defense, the Ministry of Agriculture and the national institutes of Hydraulic Resources and Physical Planning, accompanied by the Program of the United Nations for Development.

The actions of this project, financed by the European Union through the Global Alliance for Climate Change plus (GCCA +), complement the country's efforts in the implementation of the Life Task and are part of the support to the most vulnerable nations to increase the resilience to that environmental phenomenon, she said.

Coastal Resilience ―she added― promotes an integrated vision of disaster risk reduction (DRR) and adaptation to climate change (CC) as a fundamental basis for the sustainability of development actions, through direct interventions in four coastal settlements along the north-central coast of the country.

On the coastlines of Villa Clara, Sancti Spíritus, Ciego de Ávila and Camagüey, the implementation of natural solutions that allow adjustment to climate change are foreseen: rehabilitation of coasts, creation of resilient farms and planning of actions in vulnerable communities and ecosystems.

All this with the aim of strengthening and integrating DRR and adaptation to CC in the socioeconomic development plans of vulnerable coastal municipalities and sectors, through direct interventions in four municipalities (Caibarién, Yaguajay, Chambas and Nuevitas) and replication actions in another 11 from the area itself.

Yamilé explained that for her it represents an honor and pride to be part of this program that supports the fulfillment of the sustainable development goals proposed by the United Nations. 

From her field, she undertakes numerous tasks that contribute and visualize the scientific work, extolling women as promoters of different projects, supporter of productive chains, educator of new generations and technological advisor for sustainable development.

With pleasure, she received the Provincial Prize for the Environment this year, which renews her commitment to Cuban science and the desire to materialize the results of her research and those of the CIBA workers.

She does not work for awards, however, she welcomed it as a fair treat for her performance in raising awareness about environmental policies; but more than hers is the award of the family that accompanies and supports her, the deserved encouragement to the empowered woman in the Cuban nation.