Cuba, paradigms of its scientific development in 2023

Cuba and its scientific development set guidelines in 2023 at the national and international level, which showed that its strategies are a genuine fruit of the Revolution and its architect: Commander in Chief Fidel Castro Ruz.

An overview of this year's actions includes the island's role in the United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP 28) in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, which focused the attention of the vast majority of countries due to its relevance to the need to stop the devastation caused by the consumerism of developed nations.

The right of humanity to exist must be the main motivation of our discussions, warned Miguel Diaz-Canel Bermudez, First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba and President of the Republic, while delivering a keynote speech at the Climate Action Summit, as part of the #COP28.
Diaz-Canel spoke at the meeting in his capacity as President of the Group of 77 and China, and received recognition for the results of his administration and his Pavilion, visited by the President himself and the first of Cuba in summits of this type.

In this regard, the 14th International Convention on Environment and Development of the Group of 77 plus China (G-77+China) met in Havana to devote five days to the debate on sustainable, inclusive and resilient development.

The same happened in the Cuban capital with the 23rd Meeting of the Forum of Ministers of the Environment, in parallel with the Latin American and Caribbean Climate Week, organized by the secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

From the national point of view, progress was reported in the implementation of the Ires Project, related to the rehabilitation of productive landscapes in selected localities of the Republic of Cuba, in lands of seven municipalities vulnerable to climate change.

One of the impacts of this initiative, the first approved in the country with financing from the Green Climate Fund, lies in the promotion of the recovery of 15,544 hectares of land currently covered by marabú.

Its objective is to reduce carbon dioxide emissions in Los Arabos, in the province of Matanzas; Santo Domingo, Quemado de Güines and Corralillo, in Villa Clara; and Jobabo, Amancio Rodríguez and Colombia, in Las Tunas.

With financing of 38.2 million USD from the Green Climate Fund and 81.7 million Cuban pesos, the initiative is a contribution to Cuba's plan to face climate change, known as Tarea Vida, and to the National Food Sovereignty Plan.

The AdaptHabana project (Havana Coastal Zone Adaptation Plan), presented last December at the Cuban Pavilion at the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, also stood out.

This initiative will affect areas from Bajo de Santa Ana, in the municipality of Playa, to Rincon de Guanabo, in East Havana, and also includes other territories such as Revolution Square, Havana Center, Regla and Old Havana.

On the occasion of the 7th anniversary of Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro Ruz's death on November 25, the Cuban Academy of Sciences shared important moments of his conception and work on Cuban science.

In particular, his memorable founding speech, delivered on January 15, 1960 at the Paraninfo of the Academy, which laid the foundations for national scientific development when the National Literacy Campaign was at its peak.

His pronouncements constitute a platform and guide for all the work that came in more than six decades of Revolution to sow human resources, scientific centers and open and develop science also in Cuban universities.

Adianez Taboada Zamora, deputy minister of science, technology and environment, stressed the importance Cuba attaches to multilateral ties with South Pacific Island States and its commitment to friendship and cooperation, at the 52nd Pacific Islands Forum Leaders' Meeting, held in the Cook Islands.

Relations between Cuba and the Pacific Islands are guided by deep feelings of friendship, solidarity and brotherhood, Taboada said while speaking on the panel Development of the Peoples, where he warned about the increasingly strong impacts of climate change.

The Cuban representation of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization ( UNESCO) confirmed its support for Cuba's initiative to have the Viñales Valley, in the western province of Pinar del Rio, declared an International Geopark.

The Hebei International Studies University, in China, opened in October the International Artificial Intelligence Research Institute.

The project began to be developed in April 2019 with the University of Camagüey as leader and the participation of other Cuban Houses of Higher Studies, research centers and the Ministry of Higher Education.

The celebration of World Standards Day, with activities throughout the country, reaffirmed the need to strengthen the role of standards to increase technological discipline, savings and control of resources, efficiency in production and services, and consequently quality and welfare.

At the ceremony held at the Jose Marti Memorial, the director of the National Standardization Office (ONN), Nancy Fernandez, pointed out that all exportable funds and import substitutes have technical standards.

The La Gran Piedra massif will be Cuba's second Geopark due to its geomorphological, ecological, climatological and landscape characteristics of great importance for tourism in the Sierra Maestra National Park.

Individual contributions highlighted in the scientific sector, when the International Center for Theoretical Physics, from its headquarters in the city of Trieste, Italy, announced that in a digital session it would award the Spirit of Salam Award 2023 to Cuban Merit Academician Hugo Perez Rojas.

Perez Rojas himself, PhD in Physico-Mathematical Sciences, informed about the decision of that institution, which distinguished him last January with the title named after the famous scientist Mohammad Abdus Salam (1926-1996), theoretical physicist of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, in South Asia.