CSEF 2017: Call to action for CARICOM energy players
Published:Wednesday | February 1, 2017 | 12:00 AMPetre Williams-Raynor
WITH ECONOMIES under threat due to climate change and prevailing high production costs, the recent Caribbean Sustainable Energy Forum (CSEF) served as a call to urgent action to realise energy efficiency and energy sustainability within CARICOM.
Kim Osborne of the Executive Secretariat for Integral Development at the Organisation of American States, said it is past time that talk be translated into action.
"There is always the challenge of maintaining a healthy balance between dialogue and implementation. Several studies and reports have noted that our region faces an 'implementation deficit', but I would venture to say that the region also suffers from a 'dialogue surplus'," she noted.
She was addressing participants at the Caribbean Sustainable Energy Forum (CSEF), held in The Bahamas last week.
"There is a serious mismatch between meetings and results in our region. My point here is twofold: that dialogue is not an end to itself, and that dialogue that does not lead to action and to results is meaningless," Osborne added.
At the same time, she said that energy must not be looked at in isolation, but rather in the context of sustainable development.
"In the normal course of things, energy is not provided in a vacuum. It impacts and is impacted by several factors, such as poverty, water availability, disaster risk, climate change, health, education and human resource development, human rights, and coastal and marine management," Osborne said.
"I am proposing that to the fullest extent possible, an integrated approach should be adopted towards the goal of sustainable energy management," she added.
For his part, Dr Devon Gardner, programme manager for energy with the CARICOM Secretariat, emphasised three things - partnership, integration and action.
"The partnerships are not just for the CSEF, but with the World Bank and the United States Government, we are able to implement the Caribbean Sustainable Energy Road Map ad Strategy (C-SERMS) platform ... . Because of partnerships, we have been able to work with the member states," he said.
UNITY MAKES SENSE
On integration, he noted: "The CARICOM secretariat is really there to serve the member states. We do what the member states require to get the job done. The CARICOM is a group of countries within the Caribbean that we want to do some things together because it makes sense for us to work together to achieve mutual and shared objectives. And the role of the secretariat is to help the member states to realise this objective."
Added Gardner: "We believe that all that CARICOM desires - from economic development to climate resilience to social resilience to security - is underpinned by having a strong energy sector ... . We see energy as a critical part of the regional integration tool."
In the end, Gardner said there was no question of realising C-SERMS energy targets that include 47 per cent renewable power capacity by 2027 without urgent action.
A number of regional leaders - among them Dr Regilio Dodson, Minister of Natural Resources in Suriname - have noted their support for an integrated and unified approach to the energy efficiency and sustainability in the region.
"We should work together ... . We have to actively promote success stories ... and learn from each other and go together and try to determine what is for our region the best way forward," he said.
"If we work together to get this going and get the cooperation between CARICOM countries going, then we will have our energy security in our own hands, " he added.
Among the topics explored over the three days of discussions at CSEF 2017 were 'The CARICOM Energy Policy Road Map and Strategy: Shifting the C-SERMS from Concept to Action'; 'The Regulator Within the Integrated Resource Planning Process'; and 'The CARICOM Energy Transition: Lessons from the Last Five Years'.
The forum also saw the meeting of regional working groups on key thematic areas, including information and knowledge management, finance, capacity building and research, as well as policy and regulations.