Page 7 - IB JAN 2019

We Say

progress for the better in its relations with the Pacific or, at least, that security forces in Fiji have inflicted on citizens with at least
Vanuatu, Fiji and the Solomon Islands. one murder conducted at Black Rock where regional officers will
Papua New Guinea – a former Australian-administered territory be trained for peacekeeping and civil police duties.
– has sufficient resources and is strategically important enough The Black Rock regional peacekeeping facility signals an end
to be a force on its own in Pacific geo-politics. to the freeze in relations between Suva and Canberra. Fiji is back
But it is important to look at a number of key issues and what in the Australian fold.
Morrison and Australia did not do. And Australia has outwitted China and Indonesia – the two
The funding for television will not support the analytical, in- powers originally slated to fund a regional police training facility.
vestigative and often critical Australian Broadcasting Corporation So, is all good in the region? Has all been forgiven?
and highly acclaimed SBS. Instead the money will be channelled In Fiji, Morrison told staff of the Australian High Commission
through commercial companies with definite political leanings. that relations between Suva and Canberra had never been better
With labour mobility, Morrison addressed neither modern day and called for them to step up and deliver.
slavery, climate-induced migration nor the recruitment or move- But only time will tell whether Australia has really been ac-
ment of highly skilled Pacific islanders. cepted as part of the new Suva-Canberra vuvale or as Fijians have
On the issue of security there was no mention of the violence known for 13 years, Bainimarama neither forgives nor forgets.

Going Renewable

Pacific island states take the lead in energy transformation

WITH the world going out in a large way towards adopting green
and clean energy that is renewable, it makes no ecological or
economic sense for any country in the Pacific not to be part of
this exciting phenomenon.
For figures do not lie. More and more nations around the globe
are switching to solar, wind or hydro energy. In fact in 2017 alone,
the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) estimates
that an additional 167 GW of renewable capacity were installed
around the world. That is enough capacity to power a country
as big as Brazil.
The good news does not end there. With the increasing uptake
of renewable, the costs are tumbling to record lows. Prices of solar
PV module for instance have fallen by around 80% since the end
of 2009, according to IRENA. Wind turbine prices on the other
hand have dipped by 30 to 40%.
The agency calculates that prices of renewable can outmatch
natural gas prices in fact. Abundant Mulan Wind Farm Heilongiang China Photo: Flickr-Land Rover Our Planet
Renewable costs resources, coupled with strong enabling
have tumbled frameworks have caused solar PV prices
to crash to below 3 cents per kilowatt hour
and dispatchable concentrated solar power which all islands in the Pacific belong), stand to benefit the most
(CSP) of 7.3 cents per kilowatt hour. if they adopt renewable energy sources instead of fossil fuels.
Thanks to the foresight of island leaders and their policy advis- It estimates that fossil fuel imports amounts to 8% of GDP
ers, some islands of the region are giants in this field. Tokelau, a for SIDS worldwide. The shift therefore to renewable “would
territory of New Zealand to the north of Samoa, is already run- cut import bills, promote sustainable development and increase
ning on solar power 100 per cent. Samoa and the Cook Islands their resilience.”
are almost there, with 80% of their energy needs now powered “International cooperation to support SIDS’ renewable energy
either through solar or hydro. ambitions is growing substantially, and 13 SIDS have established
Tuvalu, a leader in fighting for small island states that are 60-100% renewable electricity targets,” the report points out.
most vulnerable to the adverse impacts of climate change, is Two things the island leaders can do
also pursuing a 100% renewable energy target. Bigger nations Benefitting the almost immediately. First is to jump onto
like Fiji have also jumped on the bandwagon. The island nation masses the bandwagon if they are not on it already.
has set itself to be 100% powered by renewable energy by 2025. The bigger nations in Melanesia, Papua
The savings for Fiji will be enormous given that its fossil fuel New Guinea and Solomon Islands espe-
import bill currently makes up 27% of all of its merchandise cially, endowed with rivers and lots of land hold huge potential
imports. in the area of renewables.
This point was not lost on a recent report of IRENA that was Second is for all island states to ensure that the benefits do
released at its 9th Assembly the United Arab Emirates hosted in trickle right down to the masses. Prices have come down in solar
its capital Abu Dhabi in early January, 2019. and wind technology, and governments must ensure that these
Called ‘A New World – The Geopolitics of the Energy Transfor- are passed on by retailers.
mation,’ the report declared that small island developing states (of • Both We Say were compiled with the oversight of the editor

Islands Business, January 2019 7