Abstract
Fiji’s National Climate Change Policy (FNCCP), established in 2012, encourages the government to take up climate change mitigation initiatives, as part of Fiji’s contribution to global efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Energy use is one of the largest contributors to global warming, and the substitution of fossil fuel with renewable energy, coupled with energy efficiency measures, provide the most effective way for mitigating climate change. It would therefore be expected that the country’s energy development plans would bear strong synergies with the objectives of the National Climate Change Policy.
This chapter presents a brief overview of Fiji’s National Climate Change Policy, followed by a review of the recent energy developments in the country and its new National Energy Policy (NEP). It is found that there is a clear mismatch between the NEP and the NCCP on the issue of energy considerations with regard to climate change mitigation. Indeed there is no mention in the NEP of the existence of the nation’s National Climate Change Policy and its commitments to the global climate change mitigation efforts through energy efficiency and the use of renewable energy.
Plausible reasons for the absence of a linkage between the two policies are put forward, and possible methods to redress the problem are suggested.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
DIREKT (2012) Transnational recommendation report. The Hamburg University of Applied Sciences, Hamburg. Available at http://www.direkt-project.eu
Dornan M, Jotzo F (2011) Electricity generation in Fiji: assessing the impact of renewable technologies on cost and financial risk. In: Australian agricultural and resource economics society 55th annual national conference, Melbourne, 8–11 February. The Australian National University, Melbourne
FEA (2011) Annual report 2011. Fiji Electricity Authority, Suva
FEA (2012) Annual report 2012. Fiji Electricity Authority, Suva
FEA (2013) FEA energising our nation. Available at http://www.fea.com.fj/pages.cfm/who-we-are/our-mission-vision.html. Accessed 10 July 2013
Fiji Census (2007) Available at http://www.statsfiji.gov.fj/index.php/2007-census-of-population
Fiji Department of Energy (2006) National energy policy. Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, Fiji Islands
Fiji Department of Energy (2009) Fiji’s hydro potential report, vol 2. Fiji Department of Energy, Suva
Fiji Department of Energy (2010) National energy security situation report. Snowy Mountains Engineering Corporation, Suva
Fiji Department of Energy (2011) Fiji renewable energy report. Asian and Pacific Centre for Transfer of Technology of the United Nations—Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, New Delhi
Fiji Department of Energy (2012) Department of Energy. Watts News. Ministry of Works, Transport and Public Utilities, Suva
Fiji Department of Energy (2013) Department of Energy. Available at http://www.fdoe.gov.fj/index.php/renewable-energy/accounts. Accessed 12 Aug 2013
Fiji Islands Bureau of Statistics (2012) Key statistics. FIBS, Suva
FNCCP (2012) Fiji national climate change policy. Available at http://www.spc.int/lrd/component/docman/cat_view/137-all/133-climate-change/209-climate-change-general/315-pacific?limit=5&limitstart=0&order=date&dir=DESC
FNEP (2013) Fiji national energy policy. Available at the Fiji Department of Energy www.fdoe.gov.fj
Karan M (2009) $34 m failure: FEA admits lack of study in wind farm project. Fiji Times, 25 August. Available from www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=127996. Accessed 20 May 2012
Kumar A, Prasad S (2010) Examining wind quality and wind power prospects on Fiji Islands. Renew Energy 35:536–540
Lal R, Pratibha J, Stolz E (2013) Denarau Marina powered with solar. Fiji Sun, 23 February. Available from http://www.fijisun.com.fj/2013/02/23/denarau-marina-powered-with-solar/. Accessed 6 March 2014
Raturi A (2013) A fully renewable power sector for the PICs: opportunities and challenges case studies from Tokelau and Fiji. Available from http://www.icsu.org/latin-america-caribbean/news-centre/AtulRaturiICSUpresentation.pdf. Accessed 6 March 2014
Rawalai L (2013) Work on $20 m project to start. The Fiji Times, 12 July. Available from http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=239469. Accessed 5 March 2014
REEEP (2010) Policy DB details: Fiji Islands (Internet). Available from http://www.reeep.org/index.php?id=9353&text=policy&special=viewitem&cid=1. Accessed 2 Feb 2012
Singh A (2009) The sustainable development of Fiji’s energy infrastructure: a status report. Pac Econ Bull 24(2):141–154
Singh A, Fifita S, Mario R, Bijay P (2013) Sustainable energy development in the Pacific: the evolution of energy frameworks and national policies. In: Leal Filho W, Mannke F, Mohee R, Schulte V, Surroop D (eds) Climate-smart technologies—integrating renewable energy and energy efficiency in mitigation and adaptation responses. Springer, Berlin, pp 129–140
Snowy Mountains Engineering Corporation (2010) National energy security situation report. Prepared for Fiji Department of Energy
Valemei J (2014) E-mail to Atesh Gosai, 10 March 2014
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2015 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Singh, A., Gosai, A. (2015). Climate Change Policy and Sustainable Energy Development in Fiji: Implications to Pacific Island States. In: Leal Filho, W. (eds) Climate Change in the Asia-Pacific Region. Climate Change Management. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-14938-7_16
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-14938-7_16
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-14937-0
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-14938-7
eBook Packages: Business and EconomicsEconomics and Finance (R0)