November 22, 2007 | 12:00am
SINGAPORE (via PLDT) – A global environmental organization urged the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) yesterday to adopt concrete and workable mechanisms of cooperation in the development of indigenous renewable energy resources to address climate change.
WWF-International Asia-Pacific Energy Policy coordinator Rafael Senga said addressing climate change through energy efficiency and greater use of renewable energy would ensure energy security particularly for member-countries that don’t produce much oil.
“The Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam don’t produce that much oil so we need to shift our energy sources from fossil fuel like oil to indigenous renewable energy which are cleaner, so we’ll have a cleaner environment and mitigate climate change,” Senga said. “It’s a win-win solution for our economy and the environment.”
“There is growing recognition among ASEAN leaders that this is an issue that needs urgent action from ASEAN,” Senga added.
Two “green” declarations signed on Tuesday embodied ASEAN’s commitment to tackle environmental challenges as well as its support for the UN conference on climate change next month in Bali, Indonesia.
In the Bali conference, participants hope to thresh out new approaches to controlling greenhouse gases, especially with the expiration of the Kyoto Protocol in 2012.
“The Bali roadmap will define how the post-Kyoto climate change regime will take shape. This is indeed a very important time for humanity to start discussing the future climate change regime,” he said.
“The objective is to finish the talks and agree on future climate change regime by 2009” so that “we will have a successor treaty when the Kyoto Protocol ends in 2012.”
The greater use of indigenous renewable energy sources will also be discussed and pushed in the Bali talks.
Senga said the Philippines, together with China and India, is expected to come up with more policies that will increase its dependence on renewable energy.
“I think it’s quite important for the Philippines to take a lead on this because we have the technology,” Senga said. “We’re now the second biggest geothermal energy producer in the world and other countries in Southeast Asia have their own technological advantages,” he said.
“India is now the fourth biggest wind energy producer in the world, Malaysia has good bio-fuel, China is an emerging power in solar energy so it’s just a matter of putting all these countries together to help each other to develop their own indigenous renewable energy resources,” he said.
Indonesia, Senga said, has not developed its very rich geothermal energy sources because of its reliance on oil.
“The Philippines can probably help Indonesia develop indigenous renewable energy sources,” he said.
