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Lucia A Keegan  10/27/2006 10:14:41 AM  From  DB/Inbox:  Lucia A Keegan

Cable 
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UNCLAS        PARIS 07021

SIPDIS
cxparis:
    ACTION: UNESCO
    INFO:   ECON AMBU AMB POL AMBO DCM SCI

DISSEMINATION: UNESCOX
CHARGE: PROG

APPROVED: DCM: ACKOSS
DRAFTED: POL: MAPOINTER
CLEARED: CLEAR: NJCOOPER

VZCZCFRI776
RR RUEHC
DE RUEHFR #7021 2981542
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 251542Z OCT 06
FM AMEMBASSY PARIS
TO SECSTATE WASHDC 2525

UNCLAS PARIS 007021 
 
SIPDIS 
 
FROM USMISSION UNESCO PARIS 
 
FOR OES - ANDREW REYNOLDS 
FOR IO - JIM DUFTY 
DEPARTMENT PASS NSF FOR ROSE GOMBAY 
DEPARTMENT PASS OSTP FOR GENE WHITNEY 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: UNESCO ENRG PHUM
SUBJECT: UNESCO SEMINAR EXPLORES ACCESS TO ENERGY FOR DEVELOPING 
COUNTRIES 
 
 
¶1. Summary: Representatives from UNESCO, private companies, 
government agencies, and NGOs gathered for the seminar "Access to 
Energy for All." The conference, attended by 30 people, took place 
at UNESCO, but was actually organized by an NGO with ties to UNESCO. 
Several UNESCO secretariat members did take part. One secretariat 
member from the Social Sciences Division suggested that energy and 
human rights should be linked in an international legal framework, 
though without specifying a UNESCO role. End Summary. 
 
¶2. On October 19th and 20th 2006, the "Access to Energy for All" 
seminar took place under the patronage of UNESCO at the initiative 
of the International Union of Technical Associations and 
Organizations, an NGO whose headquarters are at UNESCO Paris. The 
seminar was constructed around four themes: 
 
a) Current and Future Requirements 
b) Megacities and Urban Areas, Isolated Rural Areas 
c) Humankind and Energy 
d) Governance, Financing of Programs and Projects 
 
¶3. UNESCO Section Chief of the Division of Social Sciences, 
Christina von F|rstenberg, gave an intervention titled "Energy 
Ethics and Human Rights." She proposed the creation of an 
international treaty or an international law on access to energy 
without specifying a UNESCO role. Although nothing exists currently, 
she noted that this does not rule out the possibility of an 
emergence of an international customary norm related to access to 
energy. She named several existing international agreements: the 
International Convention on Economic and Social Rights, the 
Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, and 
the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325, that could 
serve as a framework for the emergence of such a norm. Her 
hypothetical proposal for an international legal right to energy was 
as follows, "The basic right would be designed to ensure access on a 
basis of equality and non-discrimination to a sufficient resource, 
relatively efficient, safe, and affordable supply of (ideally clean 
and sustainable) energy." She reiterated the importance of safety 
with this proposed international legal right as it relates to human 
rights 
 
¶4. Biomass energy resources were repeatedly criticized for their 
hazardous nature to users and the environment as well as their 
negative contributions to gender disparity. Ms. Teresa Malyshev, of 
the International Energy Agency, stressed the importance of making 
biomass resources safer and more modern. Presenters highlighted that 
Africa and poorer developing nations need to be a high priority in 
achieving greater levels of energy access. Upon noting that 13 UN 
agencies currently deal with energy, Mr. Serge Perez of the NGO 
"Droit ` l'nergie SOS Futur," stressed the need for a coordinator 
and a specific framework to deal with energy, perhaps a UN Program. 
Mr. Perez also argued that the right to energy should be a human 
right. Mr. Jamal Saghir, Director of the Energy, Water, and 
Electricity Supply Board at the World Bank, confessed that 
realistically, only access to "half" as proposed to "all" would be 
achieved. 
 
¶5. UNESCO Program Specialist responsible for Renewable Energies, 
Osman Benchikh, presented on "Renewable Energy for Development," He 
identified statistics illustrating that greater access to 
electricity increases life expectancy, literacy, GDP/capita, and 
reduces birthrates. He stressed that sustainable development cannot 
be separated from access to energy. He indicated that electricity is 
a vector for creating jobs and that renewable energy could be useful 
in this regard. 
¶6. UNESCO Director of the Division of Basic Sciences and 
Engineering, Maciej Nalecz, discussed issues related to energy 
access such as poverty, climate change, environmental destruction, 
and fuel depletion. He contended that the attainment of the MDGs 
depends on whether energy can be provided to groups targeted by 
these goals. The hazards and negative effects of biomass energy 
resources were identified and he stressed that up to two billion 
people are currently living without electricity. He suggested that 
centralized renewable energy services can provide a viable 
alternative for modern energy. 
 
¶7. At the close of the seminar, topics concerning financing and 
institution-building were discussed as they relate to the task of 
increasing access to energy. 
 
¶8.  Comment: This meeting also coincides with a push by the Russian 
Federation at the last Executive Board to establish up a renewable 
energy division at UNESCO.  Of course, all discussion relating to a 
future UNESCO role in energy must be subject to the results of the 
ongoing sciences review. Although this is the first we have heard of 
a normative instrument in this area, we will certainly press the 
point that this is not the way to go. End Comment. OLIVER