206
T.B. Hernandez
Cuba has taken an active participation in the International Committee for the Negotiation of the Frame Convention on Climatic Changes, to which it has adhered since
January 1994, as well as to the works of the Intergovernmental Panel (IPCC) and to the
International Global Biosphere Program (IGBP).
Making reliable weather forecasts is a state priority, both on the part of the Ministry of Science, Technology and environment and on the part of the National Civil Defence, in coordination with all state organisms and local governments. Results have been
positive, being able to count with qualified staff and an intense international collaboration in this sense. Cuba has a high level of development in emergency plans, which
have been proved to be efficient under extreme situations.
Recently the National Scientific Program "Global Changes and Evolution of the
Cuban Environment" was approved to be set in action. 45 institutions take part in this
pr,?gram in one or more of the following topics, according to their profiles:
• Pollution and atmospheric chemistry;
• Climate variability and climate change;
• The ocean and the ocean-atmosphere interaction;
• Coastal zone and land-ocean interaction;
• Biodiversity;
• Land ecosystems;
• Agricultural ecosystems and soil;
• Hydrological cycle;
• Human dimension in global changes;
• Data systems and information.
As estimates indicate that nearly two-thirds of all human beings live or have activities in the coastal zone (Gomez 1996), an important study about this issue was carried
out within the frame of this program. An assessment of the vulnerability of the coastal
zones was made in it, with special emphasis on the coastal settlements located below a
level of 1 m above sea level. The study includes recommendations to protect the population that might be affected (Perez et al. 1996).
10.4
Final Objectives and Actions
The challenge imposed by the imperative need to protect the country's coastal and marine resources demands materialization of a strategy for the integrated management of
our coastal zones. ICZM is a continuous adaptive, day-to-day process which consists
of a set of tasks, typically carried out by several public and private entities. Together
the tasks produce a variety of products and services from the available coastal resources.
ICZM involves continuous interaction between human systems and natural systems,
between human systems and between natural systems, as these systems "co evolve" over
time (Turner and Bower 1996). To be "sustainable", ocean and coastal management,
based on the new "ocean economics" will have to contribute to a solution of the most
pressing socio/economic problems in coastal areas where the majority of human populations are concentrated: the problem of employment in the industrialized states; the
problem of poverty alleviation in the developing countries (Borgese 1997).
T.B. Hernandez
Cuba has taken an active participation in the International Committee for the Negotiation of the Frame Convention on Climatic Changes, to which it has adhered since
January 1994, as well as to the works of the Intergovernmental Panel (IPCC) and to the
International Global Biosphere Program (IGBP).
Making reliable weather forecasts is a state priority, both on the part of the Ministry of Science, Technology and environment and on the part of the National Civil Defence, in coordination with all state organisms and local governments. Results have been
positive, being able to count with qualified staff and an intense international collaboration in this sense. Cuba has a high level of development in emergency plans, which
have been proved to be efficient under extreme situations.
Recently the National Scientific Program "Global Changes and Evolution of the
Cuban Environment" was approved to be set in action. 45 institutions take part in this
pr,?gram in one or more of the following topics, according to their profiles:
• Pollution and atmospheric chemistry;
• Climate variability and climate change;
• The ocean and the ocean-atmosphere interaction;
• Coastal zone and land-ocean interaction;
• Biodiversity;
• Land ecosystems;
• Agricultural ecosystems and soil;
• Hydrological cycle;
• Human dimension in global changes;
• Data systems and information.
As estimates indicate that nearly two-thirds of all human beings live or have activities in the coastal zone (Gomez 1996), an important study about this issue was carried
out within the frame of this program. An assessment of the vulnerability of the coastal
zones was made in it, with special emphasis on the coastal settlements located below a
level of 1 m above sea level. The study includes recommendations to protect the population that might be affected (Perez et al. 1996).
10.4
Final Objectives and Actions
The challenge imposed by the imperative need to protect the country's coastal and marine resources demands materialization of a strategy for the integrated management of
our coastal zones. ICZM is a continuous adaptive, day-to-day process which consists
of a set of tasks, typically carried out by several public and private entities. Together
the tasks produce a variety of products and services from the available coastal resources.
ICZM involves continuous interaction between human systems and natural systems,
between human systems and between natural systems, as these systems "co evolve" over
time (Turner and Bower 1996). To be "sustainable", ocean and coastal management,
based on the new "ocean economics" will have to contribute to a solution of the most
pressing socio/economic problems in coastal areas where the majority of human populations are concentrated: the problem of employment in the industrialized states; the
problem of poverty alleviation in the developing countries (Borgese 1997).