Study addresses impact of climate change on Cuban children

CIEGO DE ÁVILA, Cuba, Mar 6 (ACN) UNICEF and other international and Cuban organizations are carrying out research in communities of the southern coast of the island to study the effects of climate change on children and teenagers.

A team of Cuba’s Latin American School of Social Sciences (FLACSO) has focused attention on settlements exposed to hazards and vulnerabilities in the provinces of Pinar del Río and Ciego de Ávila, respectively, expected to benefit from the international project Mi Costa, which promotes the implementation of natural solutions and capacity building to cope with complex weather events.

FLACSO professor Dariadna Barrios said that a thorough knowledge of the level of exposure and sensitivity to climate change among children and adolescents in these communities will lay the foundations of an action plan to be designed and implemented by international and national organizations committed to protect children.

The study, resulting from an alliance among UNICEF, UNDP and the International Project Mi Costa (coordinated by Cuba’s Environment Agency), gives continuity to a survey conducted by the former in 2021 to establish the climate risk index in several countries, including Cuba.