By Bevan Springer

ÆROE, Denmark (September 16, 1999) – Many conference delegates to the 
inaugural Global Conference on Renewable Energy Islands, which opened here 
yesterday, are of the opinion that the increasingly popular islands website, 
sidsnet.org, will play a leading role in the development of renewable energy 
sources into the new millennium.

The website, which is one of the outcomes of the 1994 Global Conference on 
the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States, held in 
Barbados, can be a valuable tool to allow for the exchange of ideas on 
sustainable development issues among islanders from the Caribbean, Pacific, 
Atlantic and Indian regions, and with development partners in the north, 
delegates have suggested. The two-day energy parley concludes this evening 
on the Danish island of Æroe, which has been hailed for ground-breaking 
efforts to promote self-sufficiency using wind and solar energy.

Delegates reasoned that for islands to reduce their reliance on the 
importation of fossil fuels, regional cooperative approaches must be 
developed and donor support attracted. The sidsnet.org website is hosted by 
the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in New York and will likely 
prove to be critical in facilitating communication not only within regions, 
but across hemispheres.

One notable conference highlight is Denmark’s openness to assist small 
islands with their development efforts. Danish Minister of Environment and 
Energy, Svend Auken, said that developed nations need to transfer 
technologies that will foster the economic growth necessary to produce new 
jobs in the developing world. "What are friends for?" he asked, before 
chastising industrialised nations for their ineffectiveness in working with 
developing nations. "Only if a (developed) country is strongly committed to 
domestic targets will it have technology that is fit for transfer to other 
countries," he said, indicating that "dirty technology dumping" is an 
inexcusable policy.

Denmark has experienced remarkable declines in energy consumption in recent 
years, a rare phenomenon for one of the world’s richest nations. Nine per 
cent of the country’s electricity comes from wind energy, a figure that will 
increase to 17 percent in three to four years. "By the year 2020, we hope 
that one third of our total energy consumption will rest on renewable enery 
sources," the minister disclosed.

Meanwhile, Michael Kvetney, conference host and Secretary-General of 
Denmark’s Forum for Energy and Development, says the exchange of experience 
here in Denmark has been vital. "We know that many island states have good 
experience with renewable energy while others have none but would like to 
introduce it into their energy policy ... so I think this conference is 
serving its purpose."

The Danes are expected play a major role in the follow-up process to Æroe 
and have promised to submit recommendations to the United Nations Special 
Session on Islands (UNGASS), September 27-28 in New York, as well as the 
special session on energy to be hosted by the Commission on Sustainable 
Development (CSD-9) in 2001.

Yesterday, the conference heard delegates from Barbados, Mauritius, Tuvulu, 
Hawaii, Miyako Island (Japan), Æroe, La Désirade and Marie Galante (France) 
about their efforts to promote renewable energy. Today, the conference will 
focus on national, regional and international cooperation, as well as on 
funding possibilities.

END