With nine of its member countries accounting for some 56 and 30 per cent of oil and natural gas world supplies, the UN-ESCWA region is especially rich in these resources, said Executive Secretary Bader Omar AlDafa. At the same time, other member countries have little or no gas or oil reserves.  Such disparities among and between countries of the region had kept average growth over the past two years at about 5.6 per cent.

 

AlDafa was tackling the subject of energy for sustainable development for Western Asia, at the Dialogue of the Regional Commissions with the Second Committee of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). The Dialogue was held within the framework of the ECOSOC Annual Substantive Session.

 

Since Agenda 21 (1992) and the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation (2002), UN-ESCWA Executive Secretary said, member countries have made concerted efforts for achieving energy sector sustainability.  The region is indeed continuously working to improve its energy efficiency, by promoting, among others, relevant policies, codes of practice, enabling regulations, performing energy audits and implementing energy efficiency field projects. Despite limited progress in the areas of renewable energy, member countries took steps in promoting the use of solar water heaters, and in making use of wind and solar energy. AlDafa added that the region was also pursuing cleaner fuels and advance fossil fuel technologies.  It was also increasing the share of natural gas in its energy mix and was promoting the use of unleaded gas and low-sulphur diesel transport.

 

He also highlighted successful programmes under way to upgrade the fuel efficiency of national fleets, improve fuel specifications, and to enhance existing subregional electric grid connections and natural gas pipelines, with plans to build others on the table.  For its part, UN-ESCWA is facilitating and promoting policy formulation, advocacy and collaboration with member countries and other regional bodies, such as the League of Arab States. Further, UN-ESCWA has carried out several assessments on energy efficiency in residential, industry, petroleum and tourism sectors, and developed a national energy efficiency programme for the Electricity sector for one member country.  Capacity building activities have also targeted officials and decision-makers in the region.

 

The Commission also promotes the use of renewable energy and has devoted efforts for evaluating and promoting approaches for Greenhouse Gases "GHG" abatement in the transport, electric power, and industrial sectors. It was instrumental in adopting the 2002 Arab Initiative for Sustainable Development, and the 2003 Adu-Dhabi Declaration on Environment and Energy, among others.  It had also strengthened wider regional cooperation through, among other ways, cooperation initiatives with the Council of Arab Ministers responsible for electricity.

 

As for upcoming activities, UN-ESCWA Executive Secretary said the Commission has planned to prepare an assessment of the effects of climate change on economic and social development in the region; prepare a report on "energy policies and measures for promoting climate change mitigation in ESCWA countries"; and develop an Arab framework on climate change, in cooperation with other regional bodies.  UN-ESCWA was also hoping to further strengthen south-south cooperation for sustainable development in the region, provide technical support by conducting needs assessments for clean energy technologies and implementation, and support the formulation of policies to increase investment and financial flows for climate change mitigation and adaptation.