Africa

Bobi Wine says he will keep fighting for freedom after returning to Uganda.

Being pregnant at 13 is common in the floating slums of Makoko but John Mary has always been determined not to follow that route.

The vessel was reportedly overloaded when it toppled on its route on Lake Victoria, Tanzania.

The Ugandan pop star-turned-MP is back at his home after a medical trip to the US.

The United Arab Emirates is also paying the price of rapid economic development in terms of climate change. Air-conditioning has proved to be a major challenge to climate change mitigation and because of the rise in temperatures in Dubai, most new buildings have air-conditioning. Credit: Busani Bafana/IPS

By Amna Khaishgi
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, Sep 20 2018 (IPS)

“Look at these tall, beautiful buildings. I have worked as a mason during the construction and was one of those who laid [the brickwork] brick by brick,” says Mohammed Akhtar* who has been working as mason for over a decade in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Akhtar has seen the evolution of Dubai’s skyline over time. “It has been an overwhelming journey.”  When asked what has changed in the last 10 years, Akhtar smiles and says the weather.

“Temperatures outside have been increasing so fast that it drains our energy quickly. We cannot fight with nature. But at least we could play our role in protecting the environment,” the 45-year old Pakistani tells IPS. For him, sitting under the shade of a tree during his work break is the best form of relaxation.

While the rise in temperatures is certainly a concern, this Gulf state has a high level of awareness and government response when it comes to climate change mitigation.

The Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) has referred to the UAE as the most responsible country in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) when it comes to green growth, and as one of the best-performing countries across the globe.

“The kind of initiatives the UAE is taking is very encouraging and we expect things will improve with the passage of time,” GGGI Director General Dr. Frank Rijsberman tells IPS. The institute has a mandate to support emerging and developing countries develop rigorous green growth economic development strategies and works with both the public and private sector.

Rijsberman gives credit to the country’s leadership, who embraced green growth and sustainability much earlier and faster than many countries in the world.

Rijsberman adds also that the UAE was quick to realise the challenges of water scarcity and installed desalination plants at a time when other countries were only planning, theirs. A GCC report shows that Kuwait was the first country in the region to construct a desalination plant in 1957, with the UAE constructing its first plant two decades later.

Rijsberman, however, says that a lot remains to be done.

“Right now, the challenge is how to run a plant with energy efficiency. Now is the time to move green energy options to run these huge plants, which are a major source of water supplying to the country,” says Rijsberman.

Like many countries, the UAE is also paying the price of rapid economic development in terms of climate change.

“Rapid economic development and population growth in the UAE has led to the challenges like greenhouse gas emissions, extreme weather conditions, water scarcity and habitat destruction. All these issues are interlinked,” Rijsberman tells IPS.

According to the Ministry of Climate Change and Environment; direct impacts of extreme weather events, as well as slow-onset phenomena such as sea level rise, could disrupt the daily functioning of transport and infrastructure, impact the value of real estate, affect environmental assets, and damage the tourism industry.

“The effects of climate change are likely to be felt most severely in coastal zones, where marine habitats will suffer from rising water temperatures and salinity, whereas infrastructure will be tested by storm surges and sea level rise. Other risks include weakened food security and health damages from extreme weather events,” the report further says.

The UAE’s National Climate Change Plan 2017-2050, which was released early this year, notes that climate change impacts increase national vulnerability and, if left unmanaged, will affect the growth potential of the country.

“Potential impacts of climate change on the UAE include extreme heat, storm surge, sea level rise, water stress, dust and sand storms, and desertification. Even small variations in weather patterns could significantly affect the country’s economic, environmental, and social well-being,” the report states.

According to the report, the most vulnerable areas to climate change in the UAE include water, coastal, marine, and dry land ecosystems; buildings and infrastructures; agriculture and food security; and public health.

“Based on the analysis of past and present anthropogenic drivers, future projections using climate models suggest an increase in the UAE’s annual average temperature of around 1°C by 2020, and 1.5-2°C by 2040.

“The effects of climate change are likely to be felt most severely in coastal zones, where marine habitats will suffer from rising water temperatures and salinity, whereas infrastructure will be tested by storm surges and sea level rise. Other risks include weakened food security and health damages from extreme weather events.”

In addition, climate change could have implications on the UAE’s development objectives. “Direct impacts of extreme weather events, as well as slow-onset phenomena such as sea level rise, could disrupt the daily functioning of transport and infrastructure, impact the value of real estate, affect environmental assets, and damage the tourism industry,” the report further says.

But plans are already in place. “They have seen the storm coming and they are preparing themselves to fight it,” says Rijsberman.

However, there are many challenges that remain to be tackled.

According to the Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi, the country  has a relatively low share, less than 0.5 percent, of global emissions. For this reason, the voluntary adoption of measures to control and limit domestic GHG emissions would have a negligible impact in solving the global problem of climate change.

However, the country’s capital, Abu Dhabi, has very high per capita CO2 emissions, 39.1 tonnes in 2012 an increase of 4.4 percent compared to 37.44 tonnes in 2010—more than triple the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) average of 10.08 tonnes.

The main contributors to CO2 emissions in 2012 were the production of public electricity and water desalination (33 percent), oil and gas extraction and processing activities (25 percent), transport (20 percent) and industry (12 percent).

Rijsberman was in Dubai to launch a joint initiative with the World Green Economy Organisation (WGEO). Both organisations have signed a partnership agreement to fast track green investment opportunities to develop bankable smart green city projects across the world.

“The UAE has been a leader in green growth. It is not only investing within the country but also helping other states to promote green cities,” Rijsberman says.

Lack of awareness and insufficient resources are also hindering the UAE’s green growth momentum.

Khawaja Hasan has been working as an environmentalist with both public and private sectors in the UAE for about a decade and tells IPS that while government is serious about promoting green growth initiatives across the board there are several challenges that slow down implementation.

“The private sector suffers with lack of awareness, lack of technology and above all cost are major issues that [hinders] the green growth.

“They [private sector] believe in short term goals. They don’t want to invest extra to benefit long term. Moreover there is no major direct monetary incentives from the government side to acquire and implement green approach.”

He also says that a lack of affordable green technology is also a major factor for mid level and small companies.

Green growth is not a luxury. It is a necessity, says Rijsberman.  He urged governments, including the UAE, to develop policy and introduce incentives that reach the grassroots. “If the green policy and initiatives are not reaching the people then it is not going anywhere.”

For instance, Rijsberman says air-conditioning, is a major challenge to climate change mitigation.

“It is directly related to how the buildings are constructed. If we contract close boxes without any air ventilation, air-conditioning or artificial cooling is inevitable. However, if we work on building style and work on structural changes, dependency on air-conditioning would decrease.

“Today, the situation in Dubai is, inside the building, we are shivering with the lowest temperature and outside, our local environment temperature is becoming unbearable due to the hot air that millions of air-conditioning are throwing out in the environment. The whole cycle becomes artificial and imbalance,” he said.

Though Akhtar is doing his little bit to address the balance.

“If we are building beautiful air-conditioned buildings, we should also plant trees too,” says Akhtar who, each year on his daughter’s birthday, plants a tree in his residential compound in Dubai. “This is my gift to this city who has given me an opportunity to earn decent money for my family back in Pakistan.”

*Not his real name.

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By Andrew Norton
LONDON, Sep 20 2018 (IPS)

The world’s first efforts to develop a way to govern the high seas – international waters beyond the 200 nautical mile national boundary – is truly underway. The initial round of negotiations at the United Nations has just ended after two weeks of talks.

On the face of it, given the importance and scale of the task, some may feel there has not been much progress. But it is significant that despite the range of views and interests in the room, all the member states of the UN engaging in this intergovernmental conference to ‘formulate a legally binding treaty to govern the conservation and use of biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction’ (BBNJ) remain committed to the process and the goal.

Although member states and civil society had expected a draft treaty to be presented for consideration, it wasn’t, and therefore the discussions were similar to previous preparatory committee meeting phases.

But the key points around what needs to be addressed are clear: ensuring fair access and ability to share the benefits of marine genetic resources; agreeing measures for marine protected areas so they benefit all; processes for establishing environmental impact assessments, and agreeing a mechanism for enabling developing countries to have access to the necessary technological means, including data (digital sequencing of marine organisms’ DNA, for example), to share the oceans’ benefits and become active stewards of the ocean.

None of the governance measures that currently tackle these issues extends beyond 200 nautical miles from the coast. There are fragmented regional initiatives such as the Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic — the OSPAR Convention —but nothing that governs the high seas in its entirety.

Some governments including Russia, Iceland and Japan, feel that this is enough. But while regional treaties provide important governance mechanisms, no single treaty covers all the items currently on the BBNJ table or deals with the part of the ocean covering 50 per cent of the planet — the high seas.

There is a clear risk that lack of effective governance will play to the interests of richer countries that have the resources to exploit the biodiversity of the high seas and can proceed without benefit to the bulk of the world’s population. That is why IIED is working to support the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) negotiating group and negotiators from the Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and other developing countries in the BBNJ process.

Limiting high seas governance to regional initiatives would mean nothing more than maintaining the status quo. We need to end this fragmentation of high seas governance and work towards establishing a fair and inclusive global instrument. It’s about sharing half of the planet with all of the world’s people.

All member states are keen to see a draft treaty text in the next BBNJ intergovernmental meeting that can be a focus for negotiations. There must also be more time to discuss cross-cutting issues, including financing, institutional arrangements and clarifying decision-making processes.

For the next round to be more effective we would also want to see the views of people affected by any agreed high seas management regime being central to negotiations. So that means a sustained and greater presence by the Least Developed Countries, other developing countries and Small Island Developing States at the negotiating table from Spring 2019 onwards.

This is early days, so despite slight frustration with the pace of progress, it’s important to remain optimistic. IIED will continue to provide on demand, real time support to the Least Developed Countries, Small Island Developing States and other developing countries’ negotiators. This first round is more than a step in the right direction, and we look forward to meeting again.

The post First Steps Towards a Global Agreement on the High Seas appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

Andrew Norton is director, International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED)

The post First Steps Towards a Global Agreement on the High Seas appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Juhern Kim is Manager, Greenpreneurs Program

By Juhern Kim
Sep 20 2018 (GGGI)

It was the summer time in 2011, when I visited the rural town called Takéo for the first time, located in the southwest of Cambodia, about 90 km away from Phnom Penh, the capital city. Once an empire in the Southeast Asian region – which covered territories of what is now Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam and Laos from roughly A.D. 802 to 1431 – Cambodia is one of the world’s least developed countries (LDCs). I spent much time there to initiate and manage the capacity building program testing out a solar home system (SHS) technology. That time I was curious about witnessing how the concept of green economy – learned from the office when contributing to the publication of UN’s first Green Economy Report – is applied in the field in  developing countries.

I simply learned firsthand about the limitation of an aid-based development approach, and recognized the need of partnering with business as a solution provider of traditional development issues that we want to tackle through a green growth intervention

The program was originally proposed by a group of field experts, who believed that SHS can be a catalyst that provides off-grid energy solution to rural population, with an expectation of furnishing some basic energy needs and creating jobs for local people. Quite timely, there was also a dilemma facing the local government – whether they remain spectators seeing a young population leaving the town for job opportunities elsewhere. Also, there was a high-level demand from the central government to showcase and prepare for the launch of National Council on Green Growth. But, the market was not ready for SHS, and local governments were not properly informed about the new technology. I was convinced by the experts at least recognizing the need of trying out. Then, I tried hard to convince the investors, i.e. Ministry of SMEs and Start-ups of Republic of Korea, to conduct a pilot project, which was thankfully successful.

Despite somewhat excessive logistical hassles on the ground (e.g. shifting solar panels to households being scattered, as opposed to a colony type of town where appropriate to Grameen Shakti model), the program left one meaningful result. It stimulated local entrepreneurship. A rural social venture called Eco Solar, composed of vigorous youth in the town, was established and partnership was established with the Korean clean energy start-up Energy Farm Co., Ltd who participated in the program as technical experts, as a somewhat unexpected result of the program. I received a Minister citation from both donor and partner governments for that result, but I understood that installing SHS in 30 households with aid money does not explain much, if we consider a long-term and scalable impact.

 

Changing investment landscape, rising need of local entrepreneurs

Albeit it was a memory from 7 years ago, I still cannot forget the uncomfortable feeling that I had when I exited the small town of Takéo after two years of trials and errors. What the nascent local venture required to purchase was a couple more trucks to deal with the local demand to deploy solar panels to the rural town of scattered settlements. It was seed capital to test out their business. But it was simply not possible for us to make a direct investment from the ‘budget line’ of public resources. I had arranged a couple of meetings locally with an aim to mobilize grant, CSR fund, or even equity financing for these locally-grown entrepreneurs to spin off from the program, but the market was not matured enough to take risk with rural entrepreneurs in Cambodia, and more importantly, these entrepreneurs were not matured enough to convince a few foreign-operated incubators and investors (e.g. angle investors) due to their lack of financial planning, customer analysis, and marketing capacity. In the meantime, my job as a program manager from the public sector – administratively speaking – was finished. However, I knew it was an unfinished business leaving so many questions.

I simply learned firsthand about the limitation of an aid-based development approach, and recognized the need of partnering with business as a solution provider of traditional development issues that we want to tackle through a green growth intervention. And, it questioned about my role from the public sector as a facilitator or platform creator to advance this transition, between entrepreneurs and all relevant stakeholders including investors. Now, the entire landscape is completely different from then. It is not surprising to hear that a market-based approach, crafted by various forms of finance, is being applied in the bottom of the pyramid market to solve traditional development issues. It has been fueled by a growing trend to invest in mission-driven enterprises, known as ‘impact investing’ – which are simply targeted to provide capital for businesses bringing social and environmental returns – and its global assets under management is arguably reported $114bn according to the survey conducted by the Global Impact Investing Network in 2017. (note: there is a blurred line between impact investing and ESG).

 

 

Greenpreneurs, a platform for young entrepreneurs in developing countries

Even with this rising trend, young entrepreneurs in developing countries just like I encountered in Takéo, still have a lack of access to right technical training, network, mentorship, (strategy to access to) investment capital. They require coaching to convert their ideas into solid business plans. That is a raison d’être of business incubators, start-up accelerators, and any type of coaching programs, which are recognized as useful vehicle to help entrepreneurs thrive. But incubating young entrepreneurs are not a simple task, since the demand is varied depending on diverse stages of business development, e.g. idea stage–prototyping–testing–commercialization. There is no one-size-fits-all strategy to help entrepreneurs, particularly for those who are committed to green growth. And we are not talking about Silicon Valley here, with abundant capital, intellectual and physical infrastructure, and advanced ecosystem. These types of platforms are not always installed in every country in the developing world. Yes, nature of entrepreneurship is not always aligned with something to be taught in an organized classroom setting, but more with nudging their own way through the idea crowd, making connections, and creating their own ways to innovate. However, young entrepreneurs at least need to be exposed and connected enough to validate their ideas. For young entrepreneurs in the developing world, it is required to level the playing field.

This is why I am now actively involved in the global program, called Greenpreneurs, designed to supercharge green growth startups particularly in/for developing countries, by providing web-based training modules (e.g. from customer segmentation to financial modelling) for applicants to reexamine their strategy, connecting them with mentors/subject matter experts, and giving them the resources and support needed to make them to take a next step – which is to demonstrate unique value proposition and be ready to pitch to raise capital.

 

Greenpreneurs, be lean and agile to become the engine of green growth

Creating and scaling up green growth impact is differentiated at a country and provincial level, but at the core of it is to simultaneously achieve poverty reduction, social inclusion, environmental sustainability, and economic growth. And to implement this task through business, innovation is key, which requires multiple approaches from diverse levels, not only from top-down policies and regulations, but also bottom-up innovation. Here is where entrepreneurship meets green growth, and the reason why we are committed to support entrepreneurs.

It is relatively easy to come up with innovative ideas, but the real issue is to select the best ideas, test quickly, and implement (or modify/drop) them. For those start-ups committed to green growth, we recommend them to take a “lean start-up” methodology which favors experimentation (testing out hypotheses simply, e.g. through business model canvas) over detailed planning, customer feedback (through direct interviews) over intuition and theory, and iterative design (practicing agile development through creating the minimum viable products) over traditional up-front development. The emphasis is how much start-ups are nimble, speedy, and flexible enough to deal with frequent feedback loop of testing and learning to evolve around. To apply a lean approach in green entrepreneurship, what is required is a well-connected platform designed for entrepreneurs to interact with project developers, practitioners, subject matter experts, intermediaries, investors, and other relevant players to discuss their ideas, validate the market, and test out their products or services for commercialization.

In this context, the Greenpreneurs program would like to play a role as an arranger, facilitator, connector, and intermediary to make that happened, working with entrepreneurs who can create green growth impact in the area of sustainable energy, sustainable landscapes, water and sanitation, and green cities.

In 2018, the program is providing youth (aged between 18-35) with mentoring and networking opportunities as well as an opportunity to compete for small-scale seed capital by sharing business plan. All this is conducted through a 10-week virtual module program.

This year, despite its pilot nature, we see a rising potential of operating this platform.

Student Energy and the Youth Climate Lab, rising networking start-ups  in the field of climate change joined the platform as co-organizers. 16 mentors and subject matter experts have voluntarily confirmed their participation to interact with selected entrepreneurs. 349 entrepreneurs in developing countries applied for this platform. On the other hand, the topic of  green entrepreneurship is being picked up by many countries that are committed to achieving a national-level green growth strategy, so Greepreneurs is now associated with nationally driven demands, such as Pacific Greenpreneurs and YouthConnekt Africa initiative. Partnering with over 30 countries, the Global Green Growth Institute can offer a wide range of network and locally cultivated knowledge on green growth through its country offices embedded in governments. Already, colleagues at GGGI’s country offices are interacting with green entrepreneurs.

There are many international and national organizations working on green growth, and they can also be an important asset to support this journey with green entrepreneurs, as a mentor, partner, seed capital provider, and investor. Ultimately, once this platform mobilizes a critical mass of stakeholders, there is much hope to contribute to creating green jobs. Also, through this platform, entrepreneurs will be able to address grass-root challenges and generate new ideas of originating small-scale bankable projects that are in much need to be financed.

 

Unfinished business, calling for partnership to finish

As a long-time practitioner implementing green growth, I am excited with the fact that my role with young entrepreneurs –  started from Takéo in 2011 – has not yet ended.. If you want to know more about our 10 finalists of Greenpreneurs this year, click here and send an email to me for further information. If you are an investor, CSR manager, or foundation committed to increasing green growth impact, please feel free to talk to us to join forces. As a platform recommending a lean approach to our fellow entrepreneurs, the program itself is ready to be flexible to evolve around with your expertise and resources, in order to become the most effective global platform helping developing countries’ entrepreneurs achieve their own version of green growth.

“Don’t be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better.” –Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

The post Unfinished Business – Nurture entrepreneurs, connect the dots between youth, innovation, and jobs toward green growth appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

Juhern Kim is Manager, Greenpreneurs Program

The post Unfinished Business – Nurture entrepreneurs, connect the dots between youth, innovation, and jobs toward green growth appeared first on Inter Press Service.

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United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Victoria Tauli-Corpuz of the Philippines (3rd left), calls for the full participation of indigenous communities in clean energy projects during the forum Our Village in San Francisco, California. Credit: Emilio Godoy/IPS

By Emilio Godoy
SAN FRANCISCO, CA, USA , Sep 20 2018 (IPS)

Achuar indigenous communities in Ecuador are turning to the sun to generate electricity for their homes and transport themselves in canoes with solar panels along the rivers of their territory in the Amazon rainforest, just one illustration of how indigenous people are seeking clean energies as a partner for sustainable development.

“We want to generate a community economy based on sustainability,” Domingo Peas, an Achuar leader, told IPS. Peas is also an advisor to the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of the Ecuadorian Amazon, which groups 28 indigenous organisations and 11 native groups from that South American country.

The first project dates back to the last decade, when the Achuar people began to install solar panels in Sharamentsa, a village of 120 people located on the banks of the Pastaza River. Currently they are operating 40 photovoltaic panels, at a cost of 300 dollars per unit, contributed by private donations and foundations."Communities have to be at the centre to decide on and design projects that help combat poverty, because they allow electricity without depending on the power grid, and they strengthen the defense of the territory and benefit the people. It's about guaranteeing rights and defining development processes." -- Victoria Tauli-Corpuz

The villagers use electricity to light up their homes and pump water to a 6,000-litre tank.

“There is a better quality of services for families. Our goal is to create another energy model that is respectful of our people and our territories,” Peas said.

The Achuar took the next step in 2012, when they started the Kara Solar electric canoe motor project. Kara means “dream” in the Achuar language.

The first boat with solar panels on its roof, with a capacity to carry 20 people and built at a cost of 50,000 dollars, began operating in 2017 and is based in the Achuar community of Kapawi.

The second canoe, with a cost of 35,000 dollars, based in Sharamentsa – which means “the place of scarlet macaws” in Achuar – began ferrying people in July.

The investment came partly from private donations and the rest from the IDEAS prize for Energy Innovation, established by the Inter-American Development Bank, which the community received in 2015, endowed with 127,000 dollars.

The Achuar people’s solar-powered transport network connects nine of their communities along 67 km of the Pastaza river – which forms part of the border between Ecuador and Peru – and the Capahuari river. The approximately 21,000 members of the Achuar community live along the banks of these two rivers.

“It was an indigenous idea adapted to the manufacture of canoes. They use them to transport people and products, like peanuts, cinnamon, yucca and plantains (cooking bananas),” in an area where rivers are the highways connecting their settlements, said Peas.

The demand for clean energy in indigenous and local communities and success stories such as the Achuar’s were presented during the Global Climate Action Summit, convened by the government of the U.S. state of California.

A solar panel exhibit in San Francisco, California, during the Global Climate Action Summit, which showed the expansion of solar and wind energy and micro hydroelectric dams to provide electricity to small communities. Credit: Emilio Godoy/IPS

The event, held on Sept. 13-14 in San Francisco, was an early celebration of the third anniversary of the historic Paris Agreement on climate change, reached in the French capital in December 2015.

Native delegates also participated in the alternative forum “Our Village: Climate Action by the People,” on Sept. 11-14, presented by the U.S. non-governmental organisations If Not US Then Who and Hip Hop Caucus. Right Energy Partnership

The Indigenous Peoples' Major Group for Sustainable Development (IPMG), made up of 50 organisations from 33 countries, launched the Right Energy Partnership in July. In Latin America, organisations from Argentina, Belize, Bolivia, Colombia, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru and five regional and global networks are taking part.

The consortium seeks to ensure that alternative projects are aligned with respect for and protection of human rights and provide access by at least 50 million indigenous people to renewable energy by 2030 that is developed and managed in a manner consistent with their self-determination needs and development aspirations.

This would be achieved by ensuring the protection of rights to prevent adverse impacts of renewable energy initiatives on ancestral territories, strengthen communities with sustainable development, and fortify the exchange of knowledge and collaboration between indigenous peoples and other actors.

The Alliance decided to conduct a pilot phase between 2018 and 2020 in 10 countries. The first countries included were Brazil, Colombia, Mexico and Nicaragua, and Australia, the United States and New Zealand could also join, as they have indigenous groups that already operate renewable ventures and have success stories.

In addition to Ecuador, innovative experiences have also emerged from indigenous communities in countries such as Australia, Bolivia, Canada, Guatemala, Malaysia, Nicaragua, the Philippines, and the United States, according to the forum.

For example, in Bolivia there is an alliance between the local government of Yocalla, in the southern department of Potosí, and the non-governmental organisation Luces Nuevas aimed at providing electricity from renewable sources to poor families.

In Yocalla, a municipality of 10,000 people, mainly members of the Pukina indigenous community, “755 families live in rural areas with limited electricity; the national power grid has not yet reached those places,” project consultant Yara Montenegro told IPS.

Thanks to the programme, which began in March, 30 poor families have received solar panels connected to lithium batteries, produced at the La Palca pilot plant in Potosí, which store the fluid.

Each system costs 400 dollars, of which the families contribute half and the organisation and the government the other half. The families can connect two lamps, charge a cell phone and listen to the radio, replacing the use of firewood, candles and conventional batteries.

The development of clean sources plays a decisive role in achieving one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which make up the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Goal seven aims to establish “affordable and non-polluting energy” – a goal that also has an impact on the achievement of at least another 11 SDGs, which the international community set for itself in 2015 for the next 15 years, within the framework of the United Nations.

In addition, the success of the Sustainable Energy for All Initiative (SE4All), the programme to be implemented during the Decade of Sustainable Energy for All 2014-2024, which aims to guarantee universal access to modern energy services, and to double the global rate of energy efficiency upgrades and the share of renewables in the global energy mix, depends on that progress.

But most of the groups promoting an energy transition do not include native people, points out the May report “Renewable Energy and Indigenous Peoples. Background Paper to the Right Energy Partnership,” prepared by the Indigenous Peoples’ Major Group for Sustainable Development (IPMG).

That group launched a Right Energy Partnership in July, which seeks to fill that gap.

For Victoria Tauli-Corpuz of the Kankanaey Igorot people, who is the U.N. Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, energy represents “a problem and a solution” for indigenous people, she told IPS at the alternative forum in San Francisco.

“The leaders have fought against hydroelectric dams and I have also seen projects in the hands of indigenous peoples,” she said.

Because of this, “the communities have to be at the centre to decide on and design projects that help combat poverty, because they allow electricity without depending on the power grid, and they strengthen the defense of the territory and benefit the people,” she said.

“It’s about guaranteeing rights and defining development processes,” she summed up.

Examples of projects that can be replicated and expanded, as called for by the U.N special rapporteur, are provided by communities such as Sharamentsa in Ecuador and Yocalla in Bolivia.

Sharamentsa operates a 12 kW battery bank that can create a microgrid. “A power supply centre is planned that allows the generation of value-added products, such as plant processing,” Peas said.

In Yocalla, the plan is to equip some 169 families with systems in December and then try to extend it to all of Potosí. But Montenegro pointed out that alliances are needed so that the beneficiaries can pay less. “In 2019 we will analyse the impact, if the families are satisfied with it, if they are comfortable,” she said.

This article was produced with support from the Climate and Land Use Alliance.

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