Orlando Ernesto Rey Santos - Cuba

If you can please say a few words about yourself – where you are from and what you normally do when you are not reviewing

I work for the Ministry of Science, Technology, and Environment in Cuba as a climate advisor. I’m involved in the design and implementation of the national agenda for adaptation and mitigation and have been involved in the UN climate talks since Bali (2007).

What motivated you to get involved in the review process and what exactly do you do? 

Cuba is very committed to the review process under the Convention. We are in the process of preparing our 3rd National Communication and the 1st BUR, both which should be completed by 2020.  We are also developing a domestic system for monitoring, review and evaluation of our national efforts on climate change and we are reviewing our NDC.

In my view, participating as an expert reviewer in this process provides a deeper understanding of how to address national climate objectives.  Therefore, I engage in this process in order to “put all the pieces together”, to try to better understand the inside of the review and see from there how to improve our national work. By “improving”, I refer not only to our capacity for reporting, but also for implementing. When the draft of Cuba’s first BUR is finished, we are planning to have an internal exercise of review.

In addition to that, I like being a reviewer, not only is it important but it’s also enjoyable.

What do you like most about being a reviewer? 

I think the experience of working with other countries and trying to capture the essence of the different views and ways for approaching to the climate solutions and reacting to the international agenda. You also learn from the team and the secretariat. Around you there are many experienced people, who dominate areas that are not close to you.  

It is intense, complex and demanding. When you finish a good revision process, you are better prepared both for the national work and for the negotiation process itself. It's like passing an intensive course in these subjects.

What impressed you the most about being a reviewer? 

The importance and complexity of the process. From the outside, you initially see it as a process for the fulfillment of certain requirements and on how it is expressed in certain models and formats, but in reality, it is a deep dive in the way a country deals with its climate change challenges.

How does the review experience help what you do back home? 

Well, that’s essential. In fact, that brings us to the question about my motivation for being a reviewer because that is the main reason why I am in this process. 

We must bear in mind that after Paris, and in particular from what was agreed in Katowice, all these procedures to communicate and report require even greater importance and complexity. The developed countries already have more experience to work with these reporting requirements, but for the developing countries many new demands arise, which we must face sooner rather than later, regardless of the flexibilities in the reporting and review process. By participating here, we are preparing ourselves better to face our national commitments.

So that's the main reason why I participate in the process and why I am encouraging other Cuban people to engage in the process, we have many capable and well prepared professionals, that I am sure can contribute a lot to the country and the Convention