Peter shows a brochure of the upcoming CEC conference. — Photo by Muhammad Rais Sanusi
KUCHING: A Clean Energy Collaboration (CEC) conference to find the best pathway to have clean, sustainable energy in the country will be held at Pullman Kuching here on March 15 and 16.
Organised by a group of civil society organisations (CSO) namely Save Rivers, Jaringan Orang Asal Semalaysia (JOAS) or Network of Indigenous Peoples of Malaysia and Pacos Trust, the conference will stress on the inclusive process by which sustainable power generation could be achieved for Sarawak and Malaysia as a whole.
Save Rivers chairman Peter Kallang said the conference is a proactive step to promote an environment of free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) as stated in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
“It is a humble initiative by CSOs to encourage inclusive and multilateral approaches for arriving at a pragmatic and impartial solution to meet the energy needs of the country,” he told a press conference here yesterday.
He said the two-day event would feature topics ranging from domestic and commercial to industrial power supply in urban and rural areas which will be covered by speakers and panelists from Malaysia, Australia, United States and the UK.
The speakers include former Australian senator and renewable energy policy expert Christine Milne; University of Sussex, UK, Energy Policy Professor Dr Benjamin K Sovacool ;and Prof Daniel M Kammen of the Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory (RAEL) at the University of California.
Participants expected to attend the conference will include industry practitioners, CSO representatives, policy makers, government ministers and officers and academics from Malaysia and abroad as well as community members from villages and towns in the country,
“By bringing participants from such a wide-ranging background, the conference will provide opportunities for speakers and delegates to discuss very important and relevant topics regarding power
supply.
“Since an economically and environmentally sustainable energy system including generation, distribution and consumption, is a matter which affects every person, comprehensive solutions are vital.”
The CEC conference is supported by RAEL, the United Nations Development Project (UNDP) and the Sarawak Convention Bureau.
For further enquiries, please call 011-2474 9895 or email to [email protected].