STATEMENT BY THE PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF CUBA, AMBASSADOR RODRIGO MALMIERCA DIAZ
Informal thematic debate of the General Assembly on climatic change
New York, 12 February 2008
Mr. President,
We associate ourselves with the statements made by AOSIS and by the G-77 and China.
To Cuba, this is a very timely discussion, after the World Conference in Bali, where the Cuban delegation participated with a mixture of concern, optimism and trust.
Concern because Cuban President Fidel Castro’s statement in 1992 becomes increasingly more evident when he said that “An important biological species is at risk of disappearing due to the rapid and progressive elimination of its natural habitat: man.”
Undisputable scientific evidence proves the perspective of devastating climatic changes. The last ten years were warmer. The artic ice is thawing. Glaciers are receding. The sea level is rising. The frequency and intensity of hurricanes are increasing and 30% of all species will disappear if global temperature increases by 1.5 to 2.5 degrees Celsius. Small island states run the risk of disappearing under the waters, despite being, along with other very vulnerable and endangered countries, those which have caused the least global warming.
However, we stand optimistic and confident because the majority of countries have a clear political will to contribute, in accordance with their respective responsibilities and capacities, to the implementation of an international framework capable of addressing this issue.
The Intergovernmental Panel of Climatic Change urges us to make a deep reflection and to take the action. However it is really disappointing and negative that the country that contaminates the most and is responsible for more than 25% of the total GHG (greenhouse gases) emissions of the planet, with only 4.7% of the world population, has disregarded the Kyoto Protocol and remains impassive as more than 190 nations debate and make an effort to update it.
Moreover, industrialized countries are not accomplishing the almost symbolic goals of the first period of commitments of Kyoto, nor they are meeting the objectives of the convention and the protocol regarding sufficient and predictable financial resources, technology transfer and capacity building.
We have agreed to implement strategies such as mitigation or reduction and absorption of the emissions; and adaptation or actions aimed at reducing vulnerability to the impacts of climate change. However, this dramatic situation will not be tackled unless there is a shift in the current unbridled production and consumption patterns, furthered by worldwide advertising amounting for as much as a trillion dollars every year.
We have common but differentiated responsibilities. Developed countries, responsible for 76% of the emissions of greenhouse gases accumulated since 1850, have to bear the brunt of mitigation and must set the example. What is even worse is that their emissions increased by more than 12% between 1990 and 2003, and those of the United States in particular grew by more than 20%.
On the other hand, the fight against climate change cannot be an obstacle hindering the development of the more than 100 countries that have yet to attain it and which, by the way, are not the historic culprits of what has happened. We reject the pressures directed to the underdeveloped countries so that these enter into binding commitments to reduce emissions.
The developed countries monopolize patents, technologies and money, and are, therefore, responsible for the Third World to gain access to substantial amounts of fresh funding above the current insufficient Official Development Assistance levels, to receive free technologies and training of its human resources.
Mr. President,
Cuba has been carrying out enormous efforts to implement programs and measures on adaptation, on the basis of the existence of strong scientific community, efficient systems for disaster prevention and coordinated actions at the national and local levels, despite the fact Cuba’s emissions of greenhouse gases are insignificant.
Cuba also contributes to the mitigation of the climate change, through a group of national programs, in what we call the “energy revolution”, based on energy saving, energy efficiency, and the development of renewable sources of energy.
In the last 3 years, Cuba has replaced more than 9 million incandescent bulbs and more than 3 million high consuming domestic appliances. This has brought about a decrease of about 360 mw of peak electric demand, which is tantamount to saving almost 400 million dollars and stopping burning around 680 thousand tons of oil per year, an approximate reduction of emissions of 1.2 million tons of Co2 per year.
Also in this direction, intense works are being done in the national development and application of renewable sources of energy and Cuba participates in regional actions in the Caribbean to face vulnerability to climatic change and to strengthen adaptation capacities through collaboration on early warning and disaster prevention.
In the pursuing our purposes, we have had to face the constant effects of a criminal blockade that, for almost half a century, the main military and economic power of the planet imposed on us, causing severe consequences for our development goals.
Mr. President,
In order to address climatic change, the following actions are paramount:
1. Developed countries must express a clear determination to carry forward concrete actions regarding the fulfillment of their commitments made under the Kyoto protocol.
2. These countries must take up firm commitments to reduce emissions of about 40% for 2020 and not less than 60-70% by 2050, regarding the 1990 emission levels.
3. Renewable sources of energy must be used, with a significant increase of them in the world energy matrix by 2025.
4. New, additional and sufficient financial resources to satisfy the needs of adaptation in developing countries must be assigned. There is an imperative necessity to render the adaptation fund fully operational.
5. Effective transfer of clean technologies that take into account the particular needs of developing countries is required.
Mr. President,
Climatic change demands that, beyond scientific and technological issues and an important reduction of greenhouse gases emissions, we entirely change the economic and social development paradigm.
It is a daunting task, but we still have the opportunity to bequeath to our descendants not only a cleaner planet, but also a more just and equitable one in the distribution of wealth.
Thank you.
(Cubaminrex-Misión ONU)