e-Parliament in Action -Hearing Content

International parliamentary hearing for legislators from islands in the African, Caribbean and Pacific regions

This was the sixth international parliamentary hearing in a series of nine on climate change and energy access, organised by the e-Parliament for legislators from the African, Caribbean and Pacific regions. In Port Vila, 18 legislators from the Bahamas, Barbados, the Comoros, the Cook Islands, Jamaica, Kiribati, Mauritius, Nauru, Papua New Guinea, Saint Lucia, the Seychelles, the Solomon Islands, Tanzania (Mafia Island) and Trinidad & Tobago were brought together with experts in the fields of climate change, renewable energy (RE) and rural electrification. They discussed the impacts global climate change could have on islands, ways to increase energy access for the poorest citizens while reducing dependence on imported fossil fuels, and how island legislators can make their voices heard in global climate change negotiations.

The hearing began on Friday November 6^th, when the legislators visited several different energy installations on Vanuatu’s main island, Efate. They first visited the village of Epau, where solar panels and biogas digesters have brought energy to houses and community buildings far from the national grid. Solar panels provide electricity for LED lighting, while biogas digesters, fuelled with cow manure as well as human waste, provide gas for cooking and lighting.

The second site visit was to the Tagabé power plant and copra mill. Previously a fully diesel-run power plant, Tagabé now uses a blend of diesel with around 10% coconut oil to provide electricity to Vanuatu’s capital, Port Vila.

Finally the group visited a wind farm at Devil’s Point, also near Port Vila. Here 11 wind turbines generate a total of 2.5 MW of electricity, which is fed into the grid supplying Port Vila. The legislators saw how the windmills are specially designed to accommodate changes in wind direction, and can be quickly taken down in the event of a cyclone.

In the morning of Saturday November 7^th, the participants gathered at the Melanesian Hotel in Port Vila for the first day of presentations and discussion. After introductory remarks from Nicholas Dunlop, Secretary-General of the e-Parliament, Cristelle Pratt, Executive Director of SOPAC, and Stefan Schurig, Climate and Energy Director at the World Future Council, the participants were addressed by Dr. Rolph Payet. Dr. Payet was lead author of the Small Islands chapter of the latest International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, and his presentation focused on the current and predicted impacts of climate change on small island states. He emphasised that most of the climate change we are currently experiencing is caused by human activities, and showed that solving the climate crisis makes sense not only from an environmental perspective, but also in terms of the economy and development.

Thomas Jensen from UNDP Pacific gave an overview of rural electrification strategies, and the lessons that can be drawn for island states from Fiji’s successful rural electrification project. He highlighted the importance of long-term commitment and funding from successive governments, and the need for appropriate policy, legal, financial and institutional frameworks.

Rupeni Mario, Senior Advisor for SOPAC, presented his recent draft paper on mini-grids in the Pacific. He showed examples where mini-grid systems have been installed on Pacific Islands, and showed how different energy sources, such as solar, wind and biofuels, combined into mini-grids, can make for the most cost-effective and stable energy supply.

The next presentation was by Molipi Tausi, Energy Planner at Tuvalu’s Ministry of Energy. The legislators were alarmed by Tuvalu’s vulnerability to climate change and also inspired by the country’s plans to convert to 100% RE by 2020. This seemed to be a model for the world to follow.

The Sunday session was opened by Stefan Schurig, who explained some of the financing mechanisms available to help promote an increased uptake of RE at a national level. He focused primarily on the Feed-in Tariff (FiT) mechanism, which has been extremely successful in Germany. He also explored possibilities for linking such mechanisms with international sources of funding like the UN’s Clean Development Mechanism (CDM).

The final presentation was given by Cristelle Pratt of SOPAC. She explained the importance of integrating capacity-building into all RE and rural electrification projects, in order to ensure the projects’ sustainability.

The participants then divided into small regional groups (Caribbean, Indian Ocean and Pacific) to discuss strategies for moving forward on the ideas presented. They talked about forming regional networks, which could link together into a global network of legislators from island states – to be coordinated by the Climate Parliament. These networks would not only work on information-sharing and promoting renewable energies at a national and regional level, but also advocate for more ambitious emissions-reduction targets from larger countries, in order to ensure the survival of their small island nations.