Island Resilience

It is certain that there is no sustainable development in the context of PSIDs unless they are resilient environmentally, socially and economically.Against the backdrop of these challenges, countries and territories across the Pacific are further handicapped in the area of sustainable energy by: i) limited range of indigenous energy resources E.g. only Papua New Guinea (PNG) and Timor – Leste has proven oil and gas reserves; ii) the high cost of developing energy resources and extending service to remote populations; iii) poor quality of energy data and trends; iv) a small base of skilled people to address the issues; and, v) weak bargaining positions with petroleum product suppliers.

RE such as Photovoltaic mini grid systems presents many socioeconomic and environmental benefits to island communities located in the far flung corners of the Pacific community. This was seen first hand on VIO Island, Fiji. A story show casing an adaptive solution for island resilience