The first virtual meeting of the action "Inserting the climate dimension in the territories" has established the coordination framework in which the collaboration activities

agreed between CITMA and EUROCLIMA+, a programme financed by the European Union, will be developed.

16 February 2022. Havana-Cuba. The Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment of the Republic of Cuba (CITMA) and the European Union, through its EUROCLIMA+ programme, held on 11 February the first virtual meeting of the action entitled "Inserting the climate dimension in territorial development planning", an action that will integrate the climate dimension in the Municipal Development Strategies and promote the implementation of climate and environmental policies in the Caribbean country. 

This first virtual meeting brought together the actors of the four pilot territories involved (Special Municipality Isla de la Juventud, Guanabacoa -Havana-, Cabaiguán -Sancti Spíritus- and San Antonio del Sur -Guantánamo-), representatives of CITMA and the Delegation of the European Union (EUD) in Cuba, as well as the international cooperation agencies that will provide this technical assistance: the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation and Development (AECID), the Economic Commission for Latin America (ECLAC), the International and Ibero-American Foundation for Public Administration and Policies (FIIAPP) and the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ).

The main objective of the action is to promote resilient and low-carbon territories, always considering the gender and social inclusion approach. To this end, a pilot programme will be launched in the aforementioned municipalities, which will promote, among other initiatives, different methodological tools, a programme to strengthen institutional and technical capacities, and a platform for monitoring, reporting and verification of aspects related to climate change.

The ultimate goal is to scale up all these activities to other municipalities in the country, contributing to the fulfilment of Cuba's Nationally Determined Contribution and the State Plan to Combat Climate Change, Tarea Vida (Life Task).

During his speech, Juan Garay, Head of Cooperation of the EUD in Cuba pointed out that this action has a timely complementarity and synergy with the ecological transition programme to support the development of sustainable municipalities in Cuba that will be promoted under the new Multiannual Indicative Programme 2021-2027 of the European Union in Cuba.

For her part, Odalys Goicochea, CITMA's General Director of Environment, highlighted that the objectives of the action were defined to transfer Tarea Vida to a local scale. "...the importance of the role that the territories will have (will be fundamental), especially the work of the coordinators, since they are the ones who have the mission of empowering the municipality on the need to mainstream the climate issue for development", Goicochea stressed.

Likewise, the representatives of the four municipalities at the meeting highlighted the most relevant issues for each of their territories within the framework of this collaboration, which will have as final beneficiaries their 215,936 inhabitants who will also report on improvements in the planning and development of priority sectors such as tourism, energy, agriculture, education and health, among others.

The implementation of this action will continue to strengthen the links between the European Union and Cuba in the fight against climate change, a strategic cooperation that has been expressed through various collaborative projects which have strengthened national and local capacities and contributed to greater resilience and adaptation to climate change in the territories and productive sectors in which the collaborative actions have been developed..

About EUROCLIMA+

EUROCLIMA+ is a programme funded by the European Union and co-financed by the German federal government through the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), as well as by the governments of France and Spain through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation.

The Programme's mission is to reduce the impact of climate change and its effects in 18 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, promoting mitigation, adaptation, resilience and climate investment. It is implemented according to the "Spirit of Team Europe" under the synergistic work of seven agencies: the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID), the French Development Agency (AFD), the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), Expertise France (EF), the International and Ibero-America Foundation for Administration an Public Policy (FIIAPP), the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ) GmbH, and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP).

More information about this action can be found on the EUROCLIMA+ website: https://bit.ly/3rZm6qN

Contact

Technical information:

• Jessica Fernández, CITMA: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
• Lucia Lacalle: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
• Salvador Muñoz, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
• José Javier Gómez, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
• Alejandro González: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
• Santiago Mata, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Information for the press

Alexandra Cortés, EUROCLIMA+ secretariat: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.