Advocacy and Action

About the Energy Project

Welcome to The Energy Project, a project of the UNA-USA Southern New York State Division. We began in April 2011 with a blog and a twitter account, and now include a steering committee, a field based project, and hold numerous events around the NY area.

To become involved, email: unaenergy@unasouthernny.org

Project leaders are Dr. George A. Garland, Project Director, and Matthias Resch, Project Coordinator.

Advocacy

In support of the International Year of Sustainable Energy for All, the United Nations Association Southern New York State Division (UNA-SNY), its Young Professionals program and its Energy Project are coordinate advocacy events on energy and the related issues of climate, ecology and sustainable development including panels, film screenings, art exhibits and local volunteer opportunities.

Join us to promote the UN's International Year of Sustainable Energy for All. Explore with us the inter-related issues of clean energy, climate and ecology from a global, regional, domestic and local perspective.

Who are the players and what policies, programs, opportunities and challenges exist?
What role can governments, corporations, civil society, and ourselves play in addressing the complex nature of these issues?

Explore volunteer opportunities, help us in our campaign to raise funds for an international clean energy project, become an advocate and activist, help us organize events around these themes, or simply attend our events.

If you would like to know more or are interested in helping, please e-mail us and we will keep you posted on our upcoming planning meeting: unaenergy@unasouthernny.org

Organizational Partners in the Clean Cook Stove Project

Clean Cook Stove Video

"Rocket Stove" Brochure

Progress & Regress Slideshow of Park La Visite in Haiti

Action Project

The Energy Project is planning to work with partners on an action project to implement community-driven evaluation of various models of clean-energy cook stoves in rural Haiti and to promote and distribute the most culturally and economically appropriate models. The project includes grassroots partners in rural Haiti and several U.S.-based organizations. A successful clean cook stove project would simultaneously address energy, environmental protection, climate, health and gender.

To learn more about the partner organizations in this endeavor, please visit the link section on these pages.

Why Haiti ?

”Haiti today, with less than 1.5% of vegetation cover, the question of the environment is a big problem for us all, and every year we are waiting to make massive intervention on the environment is one year of too much” Former Haiti Prime Minister Dr. Garry Conille, January 6, 2012

UNA-SNY has been interested in Haiti for several years. UNA-SNY YP dedicated 2009 to "The Haiti Expedition Project." This was an advocacy series highlighting the political, economical, social, and cultural nuances that make Haiti such a special place. Culminating with a field visit, members of THEP sustained the effort by providing immediate on the-ground emergency relief after the Earthquake, and by subsequently forming a non-profit organization.

A number of YP members traveled to Haiti in November 2009 and after the January 2010 earthquake worked with other non-profits to raise funds for Haiti recovery. A member of the office of the representative of Haiti to the UN spoke to our board in 2010. Several Division Board Members have worked in Haiti in various capacities and, coincidentally, in the southeast of Haiti and the city of Jacmel.

These individuals, their organizations and others have recently joined the "Innovative Haitian Solutions Commitee" - an advisory group to The Haiti Initiative by SocialTap. This coalition's coming together couldn't have been timelier. With much attention directed to clean energy now and in the years to come, individual efforts of organizational members will be scaled up and combined for maximum impact and efficiency by means of leveraging each others resources, reach, ground-presence, and expertise for the implementation of a clean cookstoves program.

Some facts on forests:
• Forests are home to 80% of our terrestrial biodiversity
• The livelihoods of over 1.6 billion people depend on forests
• Forests store more than 1 trillion tons of carbon
• Deforestation accounts for 12 to 20 percent of the global greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming
• Haiti has lost up to 99% of its forest cover
• Cooking with charcoal accounts for ~70% of energy use in Haiti

For images of the state of environmental affairs in the Haitian National Park La Visite, please view "Progress & Regress" at the bottom left.

Energy Poverty is a state of insufficient or non-existent access to clean and efficient energy sources to satisfy household and other domestic needs. In Haiti, as in many other developing countries, cooking is the single most energy-consuming activity, accounting for approximately 70% of all energy consumed. Most of the energy used for cooking is derived from traditional charcoal, rather than from alternative and more efficient sources. The use of charcoal creates a range of problems for human and environmental health:

The production of charcoal results in deforestation and further reduce forest cover
Deforestation causes loss of habitat for many species of flora and fauna, as well as possible income-generating activities such as eco-tourism
Denuded areas have less capacity to retain water thus creating pressure on the common good and water tables
If water can’t be retained it causes soil erosion and loss of agricultural productivity, lower yields, higher input costs, and ultimately food insecurity
Deforestation increases vulnerability to deadly floods and landslides
Charcoal is relatively expensive to produce and burns inefficiently
Smoke from cooking with charcoal is detrimental to physical health causing respiratory diseases and certain types of cancers
Cutting trees in the forest for the production of charcoal is a dangerous activity often resulting in accidents and injuries
Charcoal production increasingly takes place inside protected areas as other areas and their forest growth have been exhausted
The collection of tinder and firewood is usually an activity reserved for women and children exposing them to long and distant walks, isolated and subject to theft and (sexual) assault along the way

2012: The International Year of Sustainable Energy for All

In December 2010, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution proclaiming 2012 as the

"International Year for Sustainable Energy for All", aimed at creating "an enabling environment for the promotion and use of new and renewable energy technologies, including measures to improve access to such technologies."

The Objectives of the International Year of Sustainable Energy for All:

•       Combat Energy Poverty and provide universal access to energy by 2030
•       Double the rate of improvement in energy efficiency
•       Double the share of renewable energy in the overall energy mix

The Energy Project of the United Nations Association of Southern NY includes an advocacy and events program, which will be implemented with the support of members of an ad hoc working group as well as the Division's Young Professionals Program. The UNA-SNY Division will work with partners and strategic collaborations to maximize the reach of its advocacy under the Energy Project. In support of the goals of the International Year of Sustainable Energy for All, which also coincides with the Rio+20 negotiations during the month of June, the Energy Project will seek to leverage its relations with members of the academic and diplomatic communities, as well as with the United Nations system. The Project will work with the UN Foundation's Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves and the Energy Future Coalition where possible. The Project is also exploring action program opportunities that would bring clean cookstoves to rural communities in Haiti.

We hope you enjoy exploring these pages and hope to see you at our events.

Kind regards,

Dr. George A. Garland and Matthias Resch