Southern African legislators to address climate change
Meeting in Maputo will spell out responsibilities of legislators to help reduce emissions
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 12 2009
Legislators from throughout Southern Africa are gathering in Maputo between September 18 and 20 to hear how they could supply electricity to their nations without harming the planet.
The 15-20 politicians from countries throughout Southern Africa will be addressed by experts in renewable energy - wind, solar, geothermal and biomass – and will hear about possible policy options. The idea is that they will then return to their home parliaments to introduce this legislation.
The hearing will be held at the Indy Congress Hotel and Spa and the legislators will be addressed by the following experts:
- Dr. Coleen Vogel, University Witwatersrand, South Africa, summarising the findings of the latest IPCC report on the impacts of climate change in the region and adaptation and mitigation strategies.
- Stephen Mutimba, Managing Director Camco Kenya, on the benefits of electricity mini-grids, successful cases in the developing world and steps legislators can take to promote the implementation of these systems.
- Dra. Miquelina Menezes, National Energy Fund (FUNAE), on Mozambique’s success case of electrification through mini-grid systems in the Inhambane and Sofala provinces.
- Mauricio Solano-Peralta, Department of Sustainable Development, Organisation of American States, on how the new “Renewable Energy Regulated Purchase Tariff" scheme can provide cost-effective electricity to rural mini-grids, policy recommendations and pilot studies.
- Kulthoum Omari, ENERGIA, on how gender audits can help identify gaps in policies and ways to mainstream gender in national rural electrification projects.
- Cheddi Kiravu, Professor at University of Botswana on how Solar Thermal Power could provide clean power to the entire region through long distance HVDC lines and opportunities for regional cooperation.
While most of the hearing will take place at the Indy Village Hotel, they will also be taken to the village of Djabula to see how the peoples’ lives have been transformed by the use of off-grid photovoltaics (PV) – which generate electricity from sunlight.
The hearing has been convened by the e-Parliament, an international forum for the world’s democratic legislators, and the World Future Council, an organisation which endeavours to ensure that the interests of future generations are taken into account by the politicians of today.
It is the 17th hearing in the e-Parliament’s history. Previous hearings have resulted in action being taken by legislators to combat climate change in African and Asian countries.
This particular hearing is one of a series of nine funded by the European Commission and the Swiss Development Agency (SIDA) for African, Caribbean and Pacific Island legislators on the subject of ‘Energy Access for the Poor’. Previous hearings in the series have taken place in Kenya, Ghana, Tobago and Guyana.
In November a similar event will take place in Vanuatu. Next year e-Parliament energy hearings will take place in Cameroon, Papua New Guinea and Tanzania.
NOTES
Available for telephone briefing prior to the hearing:
Jasper Bouverie, Communications Director, the e-Parliament (in English)
Susana Guerreiro, Programme Officer, the e-Parliament (in English or Portuguese)
For any of these interviews please contact Jasper.bouverie@e-parl.net in the first instance or call/text +44-751-586-1589 +44-751-586-1589 or Susana.Guerreiro@e-parl.net
There will also be an opportunity for the press to attend the opening session of the hearing on the morning of September 19th. There is also a possibility that some members of the press could accompany the legislators on the field trip on September 18th. Please apply to Jasper.Bouverie@e-parl.net for more details.
The e-Parliament is an international forum for the world’s democratic legislators which exists to spread and implement good ideas for legislation around the world. For more information please visit www.e-parl.net
The World Future Council promotes the interests of future generations to the politicians of today. For more information please visit www.worldfuturecouncil.org.
  The e-Parliament would like to thank the European Union and the Swedish Development Agency (SIDA) for funding this project.This publication has been produced with the assistance of the European Union and SIDA. The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of the e-Parliament and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of the European Union.
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