Cuba: Solution to Climate Change Implies Poverty Elimination

Cuban First Vice President Miguel Diaz-Canel said at the climate summit a solution to tackle global warming must include eliminating poverty and promoting a more just and equitable international economic order

“The only real and just solution to address climate change must come from changing patterns of production and consumption, the elimination of backwardness and poverty, and promoting a more just and equitable international economic order” Diaz-Canel said before the plenary of the Conference on Climate Change, making references to the words of the leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro.

He recalled that 23 years passed since at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Fidel Castro warned the world that “an important biological species is at risk of disappearing due to the rapid and progressive destruction of its natural living conditions: man”.

The representative of the Greater Antilles stressed that it is essential to stabilize global temperature around 1.5 degrees Celsius, just as claimed by the Small Island Developing States, which are at the forefront of fighting global climate change.

He stressed that Cuba attends this conference to advocate for an agreement supported by a more effective implementation of the Framework Convention of the United Nations.

He stated that the agreement in Paris must entail a firm global commitment to reducing emissions greenhouse gases based on the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities.

also establishing a renewed framework for international cooperation to ensure the provision and scale of resources and technology transfer to developing countries they can comply with the provisions of the agreement.

He warned that you can not fight the effects of climate change obstructing the development of those who need it most and the national efforts to eradicate poverty and hunger in an extended geography of the planet.

Humanity has pinned its hopes on the results of this Conference, which should lead to a fair and balanced agreement, without going back on the commitment and leadership that corresponds to the developed countries must assume with determination and proportionality their historical responsibility.

The other members of the Cuban delegation are: Cuban Science, Technology and Environment Minister Elba Rosa Perez, and the Cuban Ambassador in Paris, Hector Igarza.