SIDS DOCK Side Event on the Margins of the United Nations (UN) Ocean Conference on the Launch of the Global Ocean Energy Alliance (GLOEA): Ocean Energy for Climate Resilient Economies
29 July, 2022
29th June 2022 – The SIDS DOCK side event on the Launch of the Global Ocean Energy Alliance (GLOEA): Ocean Energy for Climate Resilient Economies took place on Wednesday, 29th June 2022, on the margins of the United Nations (UN) Ocean Conference in Lisbon, Portugal. The side event was organized by the Secretariat of SIDS DOCK, the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and the Stimson Center Alliance for a Climate Resilient Earth (ACRE), in partnership with the Government of the Kingdom of Tonga, Belize, the Republic of Seychelles, and the Democratic Republic of São Tomé and Príncipe, with support from the Governments of Austria and Norway.
The side event demonstrated the potential of Ocean Energy and its high relevance to Small Island Developing States (SIDS), Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and coastal cities, and the commercial-scale deployment of ocean-based energy technologies appropriate to the SIDS for the development of a Blue Economy.
The Heads of Government participating in the side event included the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Tonga and the President (Pacific Region) of the sixth session of the Assembly of SIDS DOCK, the Hon. Hu’akavameiliku; the Prime Minister of Belize and Vice-President (Caribbean Region) of the sixth session of the Assembly of SIDS DOCK, the Honourable Mr. John Briceño; the Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of São Tomé and Príncipe, the Honourable Dr. Jorge Lopes Bom Jesus; and the Ambassador and former Permanent Representative of the Republic of Seychelles to the United Nations, former Chair of the Executive Council of SIDS DOCK & SIDS DOCK Roving Ambassador for Climate Change and the Ocean, H.E. Mr. Ronald Jumeau.
The Honourable Hu’akavameiliku delivered his maiden address as President of the sixth session of the SIDS DOCK Assembly and emphasized the need to prepare a new cohort of Children of the Blue Economy to oversee the transition to the new SIDS energy sector that is minimally dependent on fossil fuels and mostly dependent on renewable sources of energy, particularly the ocean, the largest solar collector on planet earth. The Hon. Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Tonga also expressed a partnership that the Government of Tonga is working on establishing with the Global Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) platform on the stage of the development of the world’s first Pilot 1.5-megawatt (MW) Floating OTEC. The Chief Secretary and Secretary to Cabinet, Mr. Edgar Cocker, and the Kingdom of Tonga’s Permanent Representative and Ambassador to the United Nations, Mr. Viliami Va’inga Tōnē will lead this partnership on behalf of the Government of the Kingdom of Tonga.
A Signing Ceremony took place at the conclusion of the side event with the SIDS DOCK and Climate Institute wherein a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to Cooperate on Ocean Energy and Hosting of the Interim Secretariat of the Global Ocean Energy Alliance (GLOEA) was signed on behalf of the Kingdom of Tonga, by the new Chair of the SIDS DOCK Executive Council, H.E. Mr. Viliami Va’inga Tōnē, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the Kingdom of Tonga to the United Nations.
SIDS DOCK was established in 2015 and is a United Nations recognised international organisation with all the privileges and rights to address climate change and energy security in SIDS. SIDS DOCK represents thirty-two (32) small islands and low-lying developing states across the world with the objective of connecting the energy sector in SIDS with the financial global markets and sustainable energy technologies.
