Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS)
1
ALLIANCE OF SMALL ISLAND STATES (AOSIS)
INTERVENTION STATEMENT
on
Energy
Economic Growth, Employment, and Infrastructure
for
11th Session of Open Working Group on Sustainable Development
7 May 2014
Thank you, Co-Chairs for giving me the floor.
I have the honor to deliver this statement on behalf of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS). We align
ourselves with the statement delivered by the distinguished representative of Bolivia on behalf of G77 &
China.
Co-Chairs,
On Focus Area 6, water and sanitation we would like to add:
i) Ensure resilience of water systems to natural and human-induced disasters, especially those
exacerbated by climate change.
ii) Propose on improving water-use efficiency in all sectors, with a particular focus on agriculture and
industry.
Co-Chairs,
On Focus Area 7, we support the targets. We would like to remind parties that the accelerated deployment
of renewable energy and energy efficiency is essential both for the sustainable development of SIDS, and
for the world to reach its climate change goals and targets. To this end, would like to call attention to the
following points:
• The current timeline (i.e., by 2030) for investment in renewable energy and energy efficiency is not
sufficient to ensure the sustainable development of the SIDS. We much accelerate the timeline to 5
years.
• To be successful, we must urgently develop an integrated approach to establishing and
strengthening regional and national energy roadmaps, with special emphasis on renewable energy
and energy efficiency, detailed resource planning, and energy storage and capacity development.
• On means of implementation, recognizing that some of these discussions are already happening
under Sustainable Energy for All, and the UNFCCC, we would suggest the following:
o Access to capital for renewable energy and energy efficiency;
o Access to affordable renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies;
o Technical assistance to develop domestic capacity to install and maintain renew and
energy efficiency installations; and
o Creation of an online energy database, which promotes international cooperation for
research, skills, knowledge-sharing, technological development and implementation of
appropriate renewable energy and energy efficient technologies will be central to making
progress in the limited time available
2
Now I would like to turn to Focus Area 8, Economic Growth, Employment, and Infrastructure. It is essential
that our efforts focus on a number of fundamental realities for developing countries, particularly SIDS when
it comes to brining our infrastructure into the 21st Century and growing our economies.
• We must stress the fundamental role social and economic infrastructure, such as land, maritime
and air transport, ports, telecommunications, ICT, and energy play in enhancing competitiveness
and integrating into global markets, particularly in countries in special circumstances like SIDS.
• Infrastructure development must take into account increasing natural and human induced
disasters, especially those exacerbated by climate change.
• As economic growth is a major determinate of greenhouse gas emissions and climate change, we
must ensure that growth is both climate-friendly and climate-resilient.
• There is an imperative to also consider containment of any monopoly power that leads to
prohibitive costs.
• There is a need to be conscious on the definition of youth, to ensure we do not tolerate child labor.
• We also see a utility in having targets for critical factors involving socio-economic development,
such as increased productivity through savings and investment, performance of productive sectors
of the economy (i.e. agriculture, fisheries, and tourism), trade, and human resource and
institutional capacity.
• We must make use of proven macroeconomic policies, making use of monetary and fiscal
instruments to raise productivity, create employment and income opportunities. These are
preconditions for fostering responsive, resilient, and sustainable and economic growth.
• Scaling up investment in renewable energy and energy efficiency is a great opportunity to create
jobs and income opportunities in countries with unique vulnerabilities such as SIDS.
• There is only mention of particular focus on LDCs but not other special case countries such as
SIDS, but we must stress that SIDS remain a special case for sustainable development due to their
unique and particular vulnerabilities.
• Supporting effective and efficient delivery of financial products and services at national, regional,
and international level is critical to improve the rate of saving and investment, especially for
developing countries with unique and particular vulnerabilities such as SIDS.
• Economic and sectoral policies should strive toward strengthening linkages between financial
intermediaries and productive economic activities at all levels to foster productivity and growth.
This is currently something lacking in SIDS.
• Improving market access in developing countries, particularly those in special situations by creating
better access to information and affordable transportation is vital for economic growth.
• Finally, supporting private sector led growth, by promoting investment in productive economic
activities such as sustainable tourism, fisheries, and agriculture, is key to SIDS economic growth.
Thank you.
ALLIANCE OF SMALL ISLAND STATES (AOSIS)
INTERVENTION STATEMENT
on
Energy
Economic Growth, Employment, and Infrastructure
for
11th Session of Open Working Group on Sustainable Development
7 May 2014
Thank you, Co-Chairs for giving me the floor.
I have the honor to deliver this statement on behalf of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS). We align
ourselves with the statement delivered by the distinguished representative of Bolivia on behalf of G77 &
China.
Co-Chairs,
On Focus Area 6, water and sanitation we would like to add:
i) Ensure resilience of water systems to natural and human-induced disasters, especially those
exacerbated by climate change.
ii) Propose on improving water-use efficiency in all sectors, with a particular focus on agriculture and
industry.
Co-Chairs,
On Focus Area 7, we support the targets. We would like to remind parties that the accelerated deployment
of renewable energy and energy efficiency is essential both for the sustainable development of SIDS, and
for the world to reach its climate change goals and targets. To this end, would like to call attention to the
following points:
• The current timeline (i.e., by 2030) for investment in renewable energy and energy efficiency is not
sufficient to ensure the sustainable development of the SIDS. We much accelerate the timeline to 5
years.
• To be successful, we must urgently develop an integrated approach to establishing and
strengthening regional and national energy roadmaps, with special emphasis on renewable energy
and energy efficiency, detailed resource planning, and energy storage and capacity development.
• On means of implementation, recognizing that some of these discussions are already happening
under Sustainable Energy for All, and the UNFCCC, we would suggest the following:
o Access to capital for renewable energy and energy efficiency;
o Access to affordable renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies;
o Technical assistance to develop domestic capacity to install and maintain renew and
energy efficiency installations; and
o Creation of an online energy database, which promotes international cooperation for
research, skills, knowledge-sharing, technological development and implementation of
appropriate renewable energy and energy efficient technologies will be central to making
progress in the limited time available
2
Now I would like to turn to Focus Area 8, Economic Growth, Employment, and Infrastructure. It is essential
that our efforts focus on a number of fundamental realities for developing countries, particularly SIDS when
it comes to brining our infrastructure into the 21st Century and growing our economies.
• We must stress the fundamental role social and economic infrastructure, such as land, maritime
and air transport, ports, telecommunications, ICT, and energy play in enhancing competitiveness
and integrating into global markets, particularly in countries in special circumstances like SIDS.
• Infrastructure development must take into account increasing natural and human induced
disasters, especially those exacerbated by climate change.
• As economic growth is a major determinate of greenhouse gas emissions and climate change, we
must ensure that growth is both climate-friendly and climate-resilient.
• There is an imperative to also consider containment of any monopoly power that leads to
prohibitive costs.
• There is a need to be conscious on the definition of youth, to ensure we do not tolerate child labor.
• We also see a utility in having targets for critical factors involving socio-economic development,
such as increased productivity through savings and investment, performance of productive sectors
of the economy (i.e. agriculture, fisheries, and tourism), trade, and human resource and
institutional capacity.
• We must make use of proven macroeconomic policies, making use of monetary and fiscal
instruments to raise productivity, create employment and income opportunities. These are
preconditions for fostering responsive, resilient, and sustainable and economic growth.
• Scaling up investment in renewable energy and energy efficiency is a great opportunity to create
jobs and income opportunities in countries with unique vulnerabilities such as SIDS.
• There is only mention of particular focus on LDCs but not other special case countries such as
SIDS, but we must stress that SIDS remain a special case for sustainable development due to their
unique and particular vulnerabilities.
• Supporting effective and efficient delivery of financial products and services at national, regional,
and international level is critical to improve the rate of saving and investment, especially for
developing countries with unique and particular vulnerabilities such as SIDS.
• Economic and sectoral policies should strive toward strengthening linkages between financial
intermediaries and productive economic activities at all levels to foster productivity and growth.
This is currently something lacking in SIDS.
• Improving market access in developing countries, particularly those in special situations by creating
better access to information and affordable transportation is vital for economic growth.
• Finally, supporting private sector led growth, by promoting investment in productive economic
activities such as sustainable tourism, fisheries, and agriculture, is key to SIDS economic growth.
Thank you.
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