UNITED NATIONS, May 10: Twenty small island nations, including the South Asian nation of the Maldives, have urged their fellow members of the UN to drastically reduce the utilisation of fossil fuels.
They also urged yesterday at a UN conference that the developed nations should help eliminate poverty from the planet. The UN conference was organised along with the Barbados government.
The Barbados Declaration called for universal access to modern and affordable renewable energy services, while protecting the environment, ending poverty and creating new opportunities for economic growth, according to a statement released by the UN Development Program in New York.
The declaration-adopted ahead of next month’s UN Conference
on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) – includes an annex with voluntary commitments of 20 small island developing states (SIDS) to take actions toward providing universal access to energy, switching to renewable energy and reducing dependence on fossil fuels.
It emphasises that there are commercially feasible options
in many SIDS for providing energy such as wind, solar and geothermal energy.
“However, these technologies must be made accessible, affordable and adaptable to the needs and particular circumstances of SIDS communities,” stated the declaration. “In this regard, we strongly urge the international community, particularly developed countries, to ensure the provision of financial resources, technology transfer and capacity building to SIDS.”
The host country announced its plan to increase the share of renewable energy in Barbados to 29 per cent of all electricity consumption by 2029.
Among other commitments, the Maldives plans to achieve carbon neutrality in the energy sector by year 2020, while Seychelles will seek to produce 15 per cent of its energy supply from renewable energy by 2030.
The declaration also recognised the importance of the Sustainable Energy for All initiative, launched by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in September, which seeks to ensure universal access to modern energy services, double the rate of improvement in energy efficiency and double the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix, all by 2030.
The two-day conference, which ended on Tuesday, brought together more than 100 heads of state, ministers, leading development experts, civil society activists, business executives and UN officials from 39 SIDS. (UNI)
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