In Cuba we have celebrated World Environment Day on 5 June since 1979 and, since 1996, a friendly rivalry has grown up among the country’s 14 provinces to achieve the best results in implementing their environmental strategies. Institutions, companies, communities and civil society in general are all actively involved in this competition, headed by local government bodies. This year we salute World Environment Day with over 60 national actions and 740 local activities, some of which were set in motion as long ago as January.

Cuba’s most important resource is its people and the promotion of their intelligence: their development has enabled us to achieve positive indicators of environmental sustainability and quality of life and encourages us to continue fighting for their further improvement. We are progressing appreciably in promoting health, education, sports, culture and an equitable distribution of wealth. We are successfully fighting to preserve our natural resources and to enhance our environmental culture by improving our social and institutional capacity to face environmental challenges.

Cuba is conserving its biodiversity through the national system of protected areas; we are developing sustainable agriculture and integrated watershed management; we are promoting renewable energy sources; and we are developing cleaner production, the recovery of raw materials and the lowering of ecological vulnerability by reducing pollution. We have increased our sanitation and drinking water coverage so that it now reaches almost our entire population, both urban and rural. We halted our forest loss 35 years ago, and now forests cover 21.1 per cent of the country. And we are enforcing all the commitments we have made through various multilateral environmental agreements. Yet we believe that we can and must achieve much more.

In spite of being subjected to an economic, commercial and financial blockade, we share our modest resources with other peoples, promoting international cooperation between developing countries, and providing free training to the doctors and sports teachers of the future, among other specialized professions.

We have a permanent policy of opportunities for exchange of experiences, through multiple national and international events, thus contributing to the discussion and evolution of issues related to sustainable development.