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- Title
ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT: ACHIEVING SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT.
- Abstract
Members from small Branches regarded the topic as vitally important and argued that the current state of energy consumption and the concomitant effect on the environment is not sustainable. With climate change advancing at an alarming rate, small states too often suffer a disproportionate share of the consequences and more funds are required from developed nations to assist developing nations to combat the effects. Sea-level rise and the warming of the North were but two examples cited with very real and dire consequences if global warming is permitted to continue unabated. Delegates agreed that access to sustainable energy is a necessity in order not only to protect our environment, but also to improve the economic development opportunities of small states. Demand for sustainable energy opportunities and sustainable food production go hand in hand. Governments must be mindful that developing sustainable energy projects may not be done in isolation of the realities of a real and growing sustainable food shortage. There is considerable pressure on the world's arable land base and the focus of development of new energy technologies ought not to take more of this land out of the production of food. Alternatives to present methods of energy production were discussed, including: solar power, wind power, biomass and bio-diesel production, tidal generation, geothermal, nuclear and hydro electric opportunities. Advances in the development of these technologies were accepted yet there are other factors to consider as well, including: access to, and distribution of, power to small, isolated geographic areas; metering; willingness of utilities to embrace less profitable projects and initiatives, and subsidized energy production. Energy is essential for industry to thrive, for transport, lighting, agriculture, space heating, domestic use and for the whole of the economy. In meeting these increasingly challenging demands, Parliamentarians, in establishing and contributing to policy development in this area, must also balance the protection of our environment in realizing sustainable development. All jurisdictions have an important role to play: governments must listen if there is an overwhelming consensus at the parliamentary level. No one can argue against the desirability of sustainable and environmentally sensitive energy alternatives, with enhancing sustainable development opportunities in a responsible way and with the protection of the world's most precious resources, its environment and its people.
- Subjects
SUSTAINABLE development; ENERGY consumption; CLIMATE change; GLOBAL warming; RENEWABLE energy sources; LEGISLATIVE bodies
- Publication
Parliamentarian, 2010, Vol 91, Issue 4, p372
- ISSN
0031-2282
- Publication type
Article