New York, 8 June 2017. Within theframework ofthe United Nations Ocean Conference, and as part of Dialogue 6: “Increasing scientific knowledge, developing research capabilities and transferring marine technology”, the Cuban Deputy Minister of Science, Technology and Environment, José Fidel Santana Núñez, explained that in Cuba there are, since 1999, working platforms for the conservation of biodiversity, as proof of the political will and interest of the State to protect biodiversity for the nation’s economic development. As the necessary resources are not always available to identify the existing needs and problems that allow defining the strands of work, he called upon the need for international cooperation andthat developed countries honor their international commitments on official development assistance by 2020.
In this scenario, he highlighted the role of the partnerships formed in recent years, which have enabled to strengthen the management of coastal-marine protected areas and to undertake scientific research.
As an important goal, he underscored the mobilization of financial resources from all sources to effectively implement the National Biodiversity Program, outlined for term 2016 - 2020, supported by a project sponsored by the Global Environment Facility and the United Nations Development Program.
Deputy Minister Santana Núñez stressed that the Technology Facilitation Mechanism established under the 2030 Agenda cannot be only confined to the exchange of knowledge. In that sense, he proposed that the technical cooperation scheme of the International Atomic Energy Agency, through which countries can effectively access advanced technologies in the field of nuclear energy and its peaceful use, be replicated in the available multilateral financing mechanisms.
At the end, the head of the Cuban delegation expressed the nation’s commitment to continue striving hard in the conservation of our marine-coastal ecosystems, and to continue undertaking, in a responsible manner, the identification of all sources of pollution, classification, assessment and systematic control from the country’s higher levels of government. ‘We hope that this Conference will contribute to unite efforts and raise awareness in treating the planet and its oceans not as a heritage received from our parents and grandparents, but as a loan from our children and grandchildren to whom we will have to explain, at the time of return, what we had done with them’, he concluded.
Permanent Mission of Cuba to the United Nations