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for the implementation of a Caribbean biological corridor between these countries. The project will be implemented over a 36-month period and Cuba has the capacity to play a significant role in the provision of technical services to the project. The work of UNEP in Cuba is mainly focused on energy, climate change and ecosystem management. In this regard, UNEP has a number of activities being implemented in Cuba that are not directly affected by the embargo. These include its contribution to the United Nations development assistance framework for 2008-2012 in Cuba and its provision of services to the Convention for the Protection and Development of the Marine Environment of the Wider Caribbean Region, to which Cuba is a party. Finally, as one of the implementing agencies of the Global Environment Facility (GEF), UNEP is carrying out 10 GEF projects in Cuba, including (a) generation and delivery of renewable energy-based modern energy services in Cuba: the case of Isla de la Juventud; (b) integrating watershed coastal and coastal area management in the small island developing States of the Caribbean; (c) completion and strengthening of a national biosafety framework for the effective implementation of the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety; and others.
United Nations Human Settlements Programme [Original: English] [26 May 2009] The impact of the embargo has two elements as far as the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) is concerned. The first relates to long-term impact, which has negative implications for: (a) A stable and speedy supply of imported construction materials, tools and equipment, as well as energy and raw materials for the construction and maintenance of human settlements, as well as their reconstruction after natural disasters; (b) The transfer of more efficient and ecologically sound technologies and the use of patents originating from the United States or commercialized by United States companies and other companies around the world; (c) Access to energy, energy-saving technologies and oil as important assets in the provision of basic urban services such as transport, solid waste collection and disposal, water supply and sanitation, and emergency response to hazards, such as fires, floods and hurricanes, so that Cubans can use efficient and environmentally sustainable alternatives; (d) Access to low-cost chemicals and equipment for water and wastewater treatment to improve the quality and affordability of these services and their impact on environmental and public health; (e) The resolution of outstanding claims on properties previously owned by United States citizens or naturalized Cuban citizens, which is necessary for the use and rehabilitation of important facilities and the rationality and coherence of urban and real estate development;
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