Climate Change, Development & Aid, Environment, Featured, Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI), Green Economy, Headlines, Poverty & SDGs, Water & Sanitation JOHANNESBURG, Aug 27 2018 (IPS) – Access to safe water for drinking and an adequate supply of water for other purposes is challenging in the rural areas of Vanuatu.
A new project, that uses solar water pumping technology, will save time and energy for rural women whose task it is to collect and make water more accessible to their communities.
“Vanuatu is one of the small island states in the Pacific region that faces climate change because they are very vulnerable.
But given that, there is a lot of potential for sustainable development,” says Dr. André Weidenhaupt, director-general at the department for environment in Luxembourg’s ministry for sustainable development and infrastructure.
According to the GGGI Vanuatu Country Planning Framework (CPF) 2017-2021, a strategic planning document which commits GGGI and the Government of Vanuatu to common goals for green growth, “rural electrification rates are very low—under 10 percent of households.” The large majority, 76 percent, “are located in rural areas, where only one in 10 homes, under half of the schools (42 percent), and one in four health facilities have some self-generated electricity (mainly petroleum fuel based).” “A challenge is to make energy accessible to all, but by means that are climate safe.
“The goals [of the project] are at first level to provide clean and safe drinking water and, in parallel, to give access to sustainable energy for all at local and regional level.
Weidenhaupt notes that GGGI is an ideal partner as the organisation has a wide range of experience and scope in projects that are at the nexus of climate change, sustainable development water management and other environmental objectives.
Vanuatu’s Challenge in Accessing Climate Resources Vanuatu became a member of GGGI in 2015 and since then GGGI has been working with the government of Vanuatu to promote green growth and assist in meeting Vanuatu’s national development objectives.
These national agencies are consistently involved in GGGI’s in-country activities and programmes,” Kaun says.
Another objective on the NERM is to use renewable energy for green growth, including in the water sector,” says Kaun.