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One Billion More to Get Access to Energy By 2015

By Ramesh Jaura

Government ministers, UN organisations and industry officials have set a new goal for the international community: to reduce by half the proportion of people without access to energy by the year 2015.

This energy goal is a prerequisite to the implementation of the broader poverty reduction goal accepted by the international community to halve the proportion of people living on less that 1 US dollar per day by 2015, said Economy and Finance Minister of Mali, Bacari Kone.

Kone co-chaired the Interactive Thematic Session on Energy at LDC-III yesterday. The Session, he said, had noted with ''great concern'' the fact that two billion people in the world have no access to electricity and to other modern energy sources.

Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management Minister of Austria, Wilhelm Molterer, the second co-chair of the conference, said that they had renewable energy sources in mind: photovoltaic, biomass and wind.

Asked whether they had also discussed nuclear energy, UNIDO's Director General Carlos Magariños said, ''In fact we did not even think of that before the question was asked.'' That was something for the IAEA. Like IAEA, UNIDO has its headquarters in Vienna.

Two industry officials took an active part in the session: Joe Klemesu, Chairman of the Project Implementation Committee of the West African Gas Pipeline, and George Gero, member of the board of the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Explaining the rationale behind the 2015 goal, Kone said: ''The access to reliable and clean sources of energy is a precondition for introducing and supporting sustainable development in all social and economic sectors in LDCs.'' The Session, he added, was of the view that the improved access to energy Must, from the onset, fulfil criteria of sustainability, in order not to further deteriorate the social, economic and environmental situation in the LDCs.

Participants in the Session noted that further efforts for enhancing efficiency of energy utilisation are necessary for achieving sustainability and for addressing the issue of climate change. ''This applies both to the area of traditional and renewable energy, as well as for the area of fossil fuels.'' Magariños said: ''The Session suggested that UNIDO is well placed to undertake a prominent, i.e. leading role in the coordination of such efforts. Relevant mandate to strengthen its energy programme should be sought by UNIDO from its Governing Bodies.''