BRIDGETOWN - Cuban President Fidel Castro accused rich countries on Thursday of squandering the world's natural resources, burning too much energy and endangering the planet.
"The unbridled race to waste the planet's natural resources will bring life to an end on Earth. The first to die will be our small island states," Castro warned at a meeting of Caribbean leaders.
Castro said the "colossal waste" of capitalist consumer society was not just putting the world economy at risk, but also seriously threatening the global environment with gas emissions.
"How will we face the danger of disappearing as a result of global warming and the rise of sea levels?" he said in a speech to leaders of the 15-nation CARICOM bloc in Barbados. The summit was called to increase cooperation with communist Cuba.
Castro blamed industrialized societies for the global climate change that scientists have linked to the increasing intensity and frequency of tropical storms and hurricanes.
"How will our countries face the damages of the next Atlantic hurricane season and the next years. Who will help us pay the cost?" he asked.
Castro spoke days after the close of the busiest Atlantic hurricane season in living memory with a record 14 hurricanes, including Katrina, the costliest natural disaster ever to strike the United States, causing at least $80 billion in damage.
Forecasters had warned the season would be hyperactive because hurricanes feed on warm seas and ocean temperatures in the tropical Atlantic region have warmed by 2 to 3 degrees Fahrenheit (1 to 2 degrees C).
Meteorologists expect another active season in 2006.
REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
