Energy Called Key to Ending Poverty
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Author: Saudi Aramco News
Released 26 November 2007
RIYADH, November 21, 2007 -- "Energy is at the center for achieving economic and sustainable development as well as eradicating poverty,” said Qatar’s Deputy Prime Minister HE Abdullah Al-Attiyah, who chaired one of the Ministerial Symposium’s sessions.
Al-Attiyah emphasized the need for practical achievements in eradicating poverty, which is one of eight UN Millennium goals. The session, focused on Energy for Sustainable Development, explored a number of pathways for progress.
The background paper was presented by JoAnne DiSano, former UN director of the Division for Sustainable Development. “Energy is critical to achieving economic and social development as well as environmental protection,” she said.
The background paper made energy access to the poor the highest priority.
“The link between energy access and poverty is widely accepted,” DiSano said. She said 2.4 billion people in the world lack access to modern energy sources for heating and cooking, predominantly in rural areas.
HE Desiderio da Graca Verissiomo e Costa, the Angolan Minister of Petroleum, continued in that vein, saying, “Governments should subsidize rural areas’ need for clean energy.” When the poor gain access to sources of energy, they have more employment opportunities, their health care improves and income rises, he said.
The contribution of OPEC to sustainable development is well-known, covering a number of achievements.
Among them, OPEC is working on energy efficiency. HE Gholamhossein Nozari, Minister of Petroleum for Iran, said technology transfer “is an essential topic within any discussion of sustainable development.”
OPEC also is leading the way when it comes to the Joint Oil Data Initiative. The lack of transparent and reliable oil statistics has been identified as an aggravating factor in oil-price volatility, in addition to factors such as political tensions and economic shocks. Efforts to improve oil data began among producers and consumers, who recognized the need for more data transparency in the market.
The importance of energy in eradicating poverty dominated the discussion that followed. “Poverty can’t be tackled without access to energy, and this is a huge task,” said DiSano.
Costa discussed the long-term policy of educating communities about the benefits of clean energy. “Poverty needs international efforts, with increased funds being sent to help the poorest countries of the world,” Nozari said.
The director general of OPEC’s Fund for International Development (OFID), HE Sulaiman Al-Herbish, said that as a person who has been working in development, he is on the side of the developing world.
“There are two agendas currently: industrial world vs. the developing world,” Al-Herbish said. The priority for industrialized countries is environmental change.
“The developing world’s priority is to fuel their development and feed their hungry,” he said. “Without energy there is no economic development, and without economic development there is no poverty eradication.”
Al-Herbish said the issue of climate change is overlapping poverty onto the global agenda, which is a grave concern.