The State Plan for confronting climate change, Tarea Vida, was approved in 2017 by the Council of Ministers. Its foresees a programme of progressive investments that will be executed in the short (year 2020), medium (2030), long (2050) and very long (2100) terms. Priority areas have been identified taking into account the preservation of people's lives in the most vulnerable places, food security and tourism development.&nbsp; Main goals are : 1) to undertake actions and projects for adaptation to climate change necessary in the 15 areas identified as most vulnerable, 2) to conserve and fully recover the beaches of the Cuban archipelago, 3) to ensure the availability and use of water as part of coping with drought, 4) to direct reforestation towards maximum protection of soils, 5) to rehabilitate the coral reefs as the most affected mangroves, 6) to implement, control and evaluate the adaptation and mitigation measures. For the vulnerable areas, several measures are established : 1) the ban on building new homes in threatened coastal settlements that are predicted to disappear due to flooding, 2) to reduce population density in low-lying coastal areas, 3) to develop new infratructures adapted to coastal flooding, 4) to adapt agricultural activities to the changes in land use caused by sea level rise and drought, 5) to reduce cultivated areas close to the coasts and diversify crops, 6) to plan the urban reorganization processes of the threatened settlements and infrastructures, 7) to start the process with lower cost measures such as induced natural solutions (beach recovery, reforestation).</div><div> The plan also insists on the necessity of an environmental education for a possible sustainable development.

This plan is developed in order to meet the objectives of Agenda 2030. It aims at ensuring the conservation, protection and rational use of resources and natural conditions, as well as adaptation (including risk prevention) and actions to mitigate the impacts of climate change, in such a way that the relationship with nature and the environment is a contributing factor to prosperous and sustainable economic and social development.

The Strategy is the guiding document for environmental policy. It replaced in 1997 the National Programme on Environment and Development, first elaborated in 1993 and representing the first initiative in response to international calls for elaboration of national plans on sustainable development. The Strategy defines the main environmental issues (land degradation, factors affecting forest coverage, pollution, loss of biological diversity, water scarcity, and climate change impacts) and proposes the policies and instruments to prevent, solve or minimise them in order to improve environmental protection and the efficient use of national resources.

This document aims to:&nbsp; 1. Consolidate environmental education for sustainable development, through institutional strengthening, both governmental and non-governmental, and the assurance of the financial frameworks necessary to carry out programs and projects that allow the development of an environmental culture in the population. 2. Develop the initial and continuous training of educators, communicators, environmental promoters and other human resources as a basic condition to raise the quality of the processes of formation of knowledge and behaviors in the citizenship that favor their active contribution to the sustainable development of the country . 3. Develop research in environmental education for sustainable development, which ensures the construction of a theoretical methodological model suitable for the socio-economic development of Cuba and the mechanisms for evaluating the progress of educational processes, as well as the dissemination of information. best practices and experiences. 4. Reach higher levels in the formation of values, knowledge and capacities in citizenship for conscious and active participation in the protection of the environment and sustainable development, through the basic structures of social organizations and other spaces. of citizen participation created by the Revolution. 5. Consolidate the environmental education processes in the Central State Administration Bodies, in government instances, in national programs and environmental management projects, as well as in prioritized ecosystems, so that they contribute to the solution or mitigation of environmental problems in the sphere of its competence. 6. Strengthen the environmental communication processes for the development of capacities in the communication media, communities and institutions that contribute to the sensitization and awareness of the Cuban population.

The Resolution promotes a rational and efficient use of electricity by laying down provisions for establishment and regular inspections of energy efficiency standards for electrical appliances and equipment. It sets out the details of the procedure for obtaining required energy labels and defines penalties for importing appliances not respecting the established standards, including potential prohibition of import of such appliances. The Annexes detail the requirements for energy efficiency of refrigerators, electrical ventilators, fluorescent lamps, electrical cooking appliances, microwaves, washing machines and air-conditioning systems.

The Constitution of Cuba was approved in a public national referendum in February 2019. It was drafted and submitted to public consultation between 2018 and 2019. The final version, published in January 2019 ahead of the referendum, was approved by 86.85 percent out of 8.7 million voters. In its preamble, the Constitution states Cuba’s commitment to “never returning to capitalism as a regime sustained by the exploitation of man by man, and that it is only in socialism and communism that a human being can achieve his or her full dignity”.&nbsp; The Constitution’s climate provision is motivated by Cuba’s sovereignty, as well as the antiimperialist and internationalist principles. This provision sets forth that the Republic will respond to climate change in light of the threat that it represents to humans, but considering the common but differentiated responsibilities principle, the international economic order, as well as production and consumption patterns. This climate provision is set in the Constitution’s main text in article 16, which reads: “The Republic of Cuba bases its international relations on the exercise of its sovereignty as well as on the antiimperialist and internationalist principles in accordance with the interests of the people and, in consequence: [..] f. Promotes the protection and conservation of the environment as well as responding to climate change, which threatens the survival of the human species, through the recognition of common, yet differential, responsibilities; the establishment of a more just and equitable international economic order as well as the eradication of irrational patterns of production and consumption; […]”.

The law sets the legal framework to organise the resilience of the country's inner waters, and mentions climate change adaptation as a core goal. &nbsp; &nbsp;The law was approved by the Cuban Parliament and published in the Official Gazette no 124, with Decree no. 337.

Decree-Law 170, issued following Law No. 75 on Civil Defence lays down measures that can be developed to help to avoid disasters, including natural disasters and environmental deterioration. It establishes the National Etat-Major of Civil Defence that co-ordinates the deployment of measures by different state organs, economic entities and social institutions in order to protect the population and the economy.

Law No. 75 defines Civil Defence as 'a system of defensive state measures taken in peacetime during exceptional circumstances, aimed at protecting the population and the national economy from destruction by enemy or from natural disasters and other types of catastrophes, including deterioration of the environment'. When the exceptional circumstances apply, the government can use all the resources and activities of the country to respond to the needs of national defence.

The Decree-Law abolishes the National Commission for Energy and other state bodies and transfers its functions to the Ministry of Economy and Planning and Ministry of Basic Industry. It further transforms the Academy of Science of Cuba into the Ministry of Sciences, Technology and Environment, and assigns it the responsibilities previously carried out by the National Commission for Protection of the Environment and the Rational Use of Natural Resources, the National Commission for Atomic Energy (established in 1979) and the Commission Responsible for the Grand National Park Sierra Maestra.

Cuba. Biennial update report (BUR). BUR1., Biennial Update Report from Cuba in 2020

Cuba. National Communication (NC). NC 3., National Communication from Cuba in 2020

Cuba First NDC (Updated submission), Nationally Determined Contribution from Cuba in 2020

Cuba First NDC (Archived), Nationally Determined Contribution from Cuba in 2016

Constitution of Cuba

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