By MediaGlobal News Service
5 August 2008 [MEDIAGLOBAL]: Amid rising global climate change concerns, the people of Timor-Lesté’s Atauro Island and Alieu District took part in a three-year pilot program by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA) to introduce solar energy as sustainable energy option for rural communities. In this program, participating members of the community paid just $1.80 a month to use the solar lanterns that would be their primary energy source yielding a successful net savings of $1800 a year at the close of the program, according to UNDESA. “The project has achieved successfully – certainly in a difficult operational context, typical of a post-conflict country – all its time bound objectives,” Diane Loughran, Senior Communications Officer for the Under-Secretary General of UNDESA told MediaGlobal of the program. Loughran also praised the program for having “succeeded to address the social and financial components through community development, such as water users groups and solar management committees.” She added that the technical manuals and training have been developed in the local language, Tetun. While this program has proved to be a success, as to whether such programs will be implemented in other countries, there are “no plans so far,” according to Loughran, “but the UNDESA office in East Timor – with the support of UNDESA Headquarters – has spent a lot of energy to try to expand the project.”
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