Bali, 01 October 2013

During the APEC Summit 2013, Mr. Nico Barito, Director of Regions20 Asia Pacific was invited to speak on Energy Security for Small Islands Communities, during the Plenary Session of Asia - Pacific Economic Cooperation Conference on Clean, Renewable and Sustainable Use of Energy.

Mr. Barito, who is also the Special Envoy of President Seychelles for ASEAN mentioned that, for the small island communities the importance of energy security is not associated only to the Green Economy but also on Blue Economy. In order to sustain our planet we must better engage with our oceans as spaces for connection and development rather than space for exploitation.

Small islands have access to the application of wind energy and solar power, while the ocean offers enormous potential wave power, ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) for generation of renewable energy.

Although the small island communities is relatively energy efficient and concerned on global CO2 emissions, such in Seychelles the growth of tourism is important and the consumption of power is expected to increase tremendously. It is a clear interest that small islands will be decreasing it’s almost 100% dependency on petroleum products for energy, and convert to energy saver approach.