Cuban Adaptation to Climate Change to Cost Millions

The adaptation to climate change will cost Cuba several millions of dollars a year, according to data published in the opening session of the International Environmental and Development Convention in Havana.

The information is based in a developed model, by experts from the British University of Southerton, presented here on Tuesday by Asher Minns, a scientist from the Tyndal Center, who explained that this model contains data from 2005 to 2095 on the amount of land that will be lost, the effects on swamps by square kilometers and the number of people who will be put at risk because of floods.

The name of the simulation tool is DIVA, and shows the cost of the adaptation to sea level increase in the world, said the British investigator to Prensa Latina.

The studies cover the Caribbean Sea, to evaluate the impact of the effects of the increase of the global temperature and the costs to take measures to adapt to the phenomena, said Minns.

In the inauguration of the 2nd Congress on Climatic Change, one of the events being celebrated at the 8th International Convention, Minns said there are 18 models to predict the physical impact of climate change.

However, he considered human dimension is the challenge to understand to draw the guidelines for adaptation to the global temperature's increase.

On technological disparity, since it is the rich countries that have the advanced technology to study climate change, Minns said there is a lot of paradox in this aspect, since the people of the poor countries know more about adaptation, while in the rich countries it is seen as an engineering problem.

However, he said there is no doubt the industrialized world is responsible for climate change and the poor countries are the ones suffering the worst consequences.

"Richer countries should facilitate the underdeveloped countries the necessary resources and technologies to adapt to the effects of the global temperature's increase," he concluded. / PL