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Por: Claudia Argüelles Jimenez

On October 4th´s morning, in Santiago de Cuba, the Balance Meeting (2017 – 2018) was carried out, which goal was to analyze the implementation and achievements of the State´s Plan on facing the Climate Change: Life Task.

Under the directions of the Science, Technology and Environment (CITMA in Spanish) Deputy Zelma Corona, the Headmistress of the Risk and Disaster Reduction Center, Leidy Lago Milan, and other research organisms’ representatives, there wereanalyzedthe accomplishments regarding the three priorities of the program: Preservation of people´s lives (threaten population); Physical and food security; and Local and Touristic development.

In Santiago de Cuba province, the areas involved in the program are the bay, the city, the coastal sector of Guama´s municipality, and Granma´s highway which goes from Santiago de Cuba to the city of Pilon. Also, the Plan includes maritime settlements, diverse grading beaches with intense erosion, and unprotected saline intrusion coastal areas.

“The implementation timetableof the State´s Plan is in correspondence with the city´s current development program, which includes: prioritized areas for touristic development, preservation of threaten population´s lives, renewable energy sources, food production, and drought and water saving´s hydraulic programs”, Leidy Lago explain.

During the meeting, they also highlighted that the accepted work method led to the approval of the Provincial and Municipal Group Work System. They agreed on creating municipalities control schedules, as well as, assessing the budget allocation´s making, on the different organisms’ work plans.

Even when government administrations are gaining awareness regarding the noxious effectsmankind actionshave on climate change, and how their influence affects the ecosystems adaptation; the needed environmental investments are not been made due to the low risk perception existent in most companies.

Nowadays, because of the negative impact on the environment, our society is dealing with certain criticaldisease situations. Some of them are: cancer, non-transmittable chronicle illnesses, hypertension, and diabetes. Therefore, it is important to raise people´s awareness about the different health problems which can be cause by environmental factors. 

“Santiago de Cuba´s province is moving forward, fulfilling the received instructions, and getting results when it comes to adaptation actions. There is evidence of a pertinent control on the implementation of the Life Task Program, that is why I send out an invitation to start Thinking as a Country, and to do what we have to do in a coherent way, not letting our well-being be affected by the climate change”, Zelma Corona said.