Cablegate: Unesco Seminar Explores Access to Energy for Developing

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Lucia A Keegan 10/27/2006 10:14:41 AM From DB/Inbox: Lucia A Keegan

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UNCLAS PARIS 07021

SIPDIS
cxparis:
ACTION: UNESCO
INFO: ECON AMBU AMB POL AMBO DCM SCI

DISSEMINATION: UNESCOX
CHARGE: PROG

APPROVED: DCM: ACKOSS
DRAFTED: POL: MAPOINTER
CLEARED: CLEAR: NJCOOPER

VZCZCFRI776
RR RUEHC
DE RUEHFR #7021 2981542
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 251542Z OCT 06
FM AMEMBASSY PARIS
TO SECSTATE WASHDC 2525

UNCLAS PARIS 007021

SIPDIS

FROM USMISSION UNESCO PARIS

FOR OES - ANDREW REYNOLDS
FOR IO - JIM DUFTY
DEPARTMENT PASS NSF FOR ROSE GOMBAY
DEPARTMENT PASS OSTP FOR GENE WHITNEY

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: UNESCO ENRG PHUM
SUBJECT: UNESCO SEMINAR EXPLORES ACCESS TO ENERGY FOR DEVELOPING
COUNTRIES

1. Summary: Representatives from UNESCO, private companies,
government agencies, and NGOs gathered for the seminar "Access to
Energy for All." The conference, attended by 30 people, took place
at UNESCO, but was actually organized by an NGO with ties to UNESCO.
Several UNESCO secretariat members did take part. One secretariat
member from the Social Sciences Division suggested that energy and
human rights should be linked in an international legal framework,
though without specifying a UNESCO role. End Summary.

2. On October 19th and 20th 2006, the "Access to Energy for All"
seminar took place under the patronage of UNESCO at the initiative
of the International Union of Technical Associations and
Organizations, an NGO whose headquarters are at UNESCO Paris. The
seminar was constructed around four themes:

a) Current and Future Requirements
b) Megacities and Urban Areas, Isolated Rural Areas
c) Humankind and Energy
d) Governance, Financing of Programs and Projects

3. UNESCO Section Chief of the Division of Social Sciences,
Christina von F|rstenberg, gave an intervention titled "Energy
Ethics and Human Rights." She proposed the creation of an
international treaty or an international law on access to energy
without specifying a UNESCO role. Although nothing exists currently,
she noted that this does not rule out the possibility of an
emergence of an international customary norm related to access to
energy. She named several existing international agreements: the
International Convention on Economic and Social Rights, the
Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, and
the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325, that could
serve as a framework for the emergence of such a norm. Her
hypothetical proposal for an international legal right to energy was
as follows, "The basic right would be designed to ensure access on a
basis of equality and non-discrimination to a sufficient resource,
relatively efficient, safe, and affordable supply of (ideally clean
and sustainable) energy." She reiterated the importance of safety
with this proposed international legal right as it relates to human
rights

4. Biomass energy resources were repeatedly criticized for their
hazardous nature to users and the environment as well as their
negative contributions to gender disparity. Ms. Teresa Malyshev, of
the International Energy Agency, stressed the importance of making
biomass resources safer and more modern. Presenters highlighted that
Africa and poorer developing nations need to be a high priority in
achieving greater levels of energy access. Upon noting that 13 UN
agencies currently deal with energy, Mr. Serge Perez of the NGO
"Droit ` l'nergie SOS Futur," stressed the need for a coordinator
and a specific framework to deal with energy, perhaps a UN Program.
Mr. Perez also argued that the right to energy should be a human
right. Mr. Jamal Saghir, Director of the Energy, Water, and
Electricity Supply Board at the World Bank, confessed that
realistically, only access to "half" as proposed to "all" would be
achieved.

5. UNESCO Program Specialist responsible for Renewable Energies,
Osman Benchikh, presented on "Renewable Energy for Development," He
identified statistics illustrating that greater access to
electricity increases life expectancy, literacy, GDP/capita, and
reduces birthrates. He stressed that sustainable development cannot
be separated from access to energy. He indicated that electricity is
a vector for creating jobs and that renewable energy could be useful
in this regard.
6. UNESCO Director of the Division of Basic Sciences and
Engineering, Maciej Nalecz, discussed issues related to energy
access such as poverty, climate change, environmental destruction,
and fuel depletion. He contended that the attainment of the MDGs
depends on whether energy can be provided to groups targeted by
these goals. The hazards and negative effects of biomass energy
resources were identified and he stressed that up to two billion
people are currently living without electricity. He suggested that
centralized renewable energy services can provide a viable
alternative for modern energy.

7. At the close of the seminar, topics concerning financing and
institution-building were discussed as they relate to the task of
increasing access to energy.

8. Comment: This meeting also coincides with a push by the Russian
Federation at the last Executive Board to establish up a renewable
energy division at UNESCO. Of course, all discussion relating to a
future UNESCO role in energy must be subject to the results of the
ongoing sciences review. Although this is the first we have heard of
a normative instrument in this area, we will certainly press the
point that this is not the way to go. End Comment. OLIVER

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