Women's Major Group Statement
Regional Disscusson on Sustainable Development
Latin America and the Caribbean
Wednesday 3rd May 2006
presented by Hazel Brown
We wish to congratulate the Chairman for his efficient handling of the implementation process so
far and we strongly support the continuation of this process at the regional level.
We also thank ECLAC for facilitating the input of women in the process. we must build and improve
collaboration between stakeholders on the issues of sustainable development. Energy , poverty and
gender inequality and inequities in gender decision-making arena shave a major impact on sustainable
development, In many Latin American and Caribbean rural communities and informal urban settlements,
women are most affected by energy poverty because they are responsible for providing their households
with food, water and energy.
Because gender energy and development are interlinked it is important the data be collected and
disaggregated so that gender issues may be effectively addressed on national and regional policies and
projects.
We therefore recommend:
1. Specific time bound Regional targets for renewable energy use and efficiency in energy use, with
auitable incentives and resources for research and development; investment and promotion.
There is need in this connection to include the utility regulators as a major stakeholder in this process.
2. We must link changes in the energy matrix to employment creation in SME including areas of
installation and maintenance
3. We must build capacity and support consumer organisations at national and regional level to change
consumption patterns which are harmful and inefficient.
4, UNDP Carbon Fund be used to allocate resources for a strong Regional solar energy project.
In order to overcome poverty and achieve the Millennium Development Goals energy access must be
human rights based and not market based.
Strong public sector infrastructure, policies and programmes and regulation are central to clean and
efficient energy access. Gender balance is also necessary to ensure that women's rights, needs and
experiences are considered in energy policy decision making at all levels.
Training, capacity building, adequate allocation of resources and technology are essential to overcome
energy poverty.
We support the position of Barbados that the UNECLAC Caribbean Office needs to be more involved
especially in relation to matters concerning implementation of the SIDS Programme of Action.
The CSD Women's Major Group is compiling a set of case studies to demonstrate some successful
strategies for achieving good gender balanced results in the area of the review process and we are
willing to share these with the Commission.
Thank you