UNITED NATIONS.— Cuba’s efforts to protect the environment and measures to slow climate change were highlighted during a special session of the UN General Assembly dedicated to the issue, reported Prensa Latina.

Cuban Ambassador to the UN Rodrigo Malmierca spoke on the island’s disaster prevention system and the coordinated actions on a national and local level, despite the fact that the country’s greenhouse gas emissions are insignificant.

Malmierca noted that measures including the replacement of nine million incandescent light bulbs and three million high consumption domestic appliances resulted in peak electricity demand dropping by 360 megawatts, a reduction of approximately 1.2 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions per year.

To do their part to prevent climate change, he said it is essential that developed countries express a clear will and present concrete actions to comply with the Kyoto Protocol.

Ambassador Malmierca criticized the US for failing to sign the Kyoto agreement while more than 190 countries try to bring it up to date. Finally, he said that beyond scientific and technological issues, climate change demands a radical modification of the economic and social development model.