Earth & Environment - Posted by Ryan Sheales-Melbourne on Wednesday, May 30, 2012 9:26 - 7 Comments 
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(1 votes, average: 1.00 out of 5) Loading ...Australia owes East Timor climate aid, says study
A new report finds East Timor isn’t capable of adequately upgrading its energy infrastructure without outside help. "Australia certainly has the ability to pay some of these costs," says report author Jeremy Moss. (Credit: Nick Hobgood/Flickr)
U. MELBOURNE (AUS) — East Timor is particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change and Australia has a moral and historical obligation to help, a new study finds.
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The text of this article by Futurity is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivatives License.
“The legacy of several hundred years of outside occupation has led to a situation where Timor is grossly underdeveloped through no fault of its own,” finds a report by Jeremy Moss from the University of Melbourne’s Nossal Institute of Global Health.
Straight from the Source
“Timor Leste should not have to bear the cost associated with global mitigation efforts,” the report reads.
The report, Climate Change and Energy Poverty in Timor-Leste, finds Australia’s northern neighbor is heavily reliant on imported fossil fuels for energy production and wood burning for cooking.
“This means those East Timorese lucky enough to have access to electricity pay extremely large bills while those who don’t suffer the health effects associated with prolonged wood burning,” Moss says.
The report finds East Timor isn’t capable of adequately upgrading its energy infrastructure without outside help.
“Australia certainly has the ability to pay some of these costs,” Moss says.
“The economic cost of developing these technologies is likely to outweigh the benefits, unless Timor receives financial assistance from the international community.”
The report also finds that getting the right ‘energy mix’ is vital for social justice.
Social justice considerations matter because energy provision has to be of benefit to people and communities, the report finds.
“If concerns for child and maternal health are to determine where and to what extent resources are allocated, then a greater emphasis might be placed on improved cookstove technology than expensive new power stations,” says Moss.
The full report also considers broader questions regarding global responsibilities for climate change and how they effect local energy decisions.
More news from the University of Melbourne: http://newsroom.melbourne.edu/
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7 Comments
antoniocristovao
alex
Why is this moral preaching on science news ? When people start talking about moral obligation and social justice , I stop reading .
James Acton
And Indonesia shouldn’t help? After all the disgusting things they did during the occupation it would go some way in recompense.
Fajar
Read history! Indonesian occupied Timor because the US and OZs are affraid of communism, but do not want their hands dirty, so they requested Soeharto to do that for them. Where do you think the war campaign funding came from? The weapon? Don’t be naive, read your history book. This hidden sin is the reason why OZ feel the urge to be responsible, not just mere altruism.
Jerre Manarolla
First, Timor Leste is earning $1.5-$2 billion in oil and gas revenues each year and has the money to pay for the imported fuel. Second, with regard to electricity, the tariffs are well below costs and on top of that the government allows electricity consumers to avoid paying their electricity bills. At least that was the case in 2009 when I left. And third, in general with regard to infrastructure projects, if an infrastructure project is not economically beneficial, that project should not be implemented, with or without donor funding.
Among the things Timor-Leste needs to do is to use donor technical advice to identify and design economically viable infrastructure projects of all kinds (it lacks the domestic human capacity to do that at present) and use its petroleum revenues, along with some donor support, to fund those projects. Instead, the Government devotes too much of its budget on recurrent expenditures such as public sector salaries, automobiles for public servants, and subsidies to ever-increasing numbers of Timorese citizens, to the point where labor costs, for example compared to Indonesia, make producing most goods and services such as tourism, non-competitive.
estrela
How many times did Jeremy Moss go to East Timor. Such a report is like learning about TL through google and other related online source!
tim armstrong
In the past 12 years Timor Leste has probably had more reports written about it, more research done on it, and more aid agencies and consultants visiting it than most other developing countries. Despite the $2 billion annual revenue now and ten years of UN, NGO, and bilateral aid the population is only marginally better off. For sure there has been / is corruption. But the underlying problems have not changed in 10 years, climate being one of them.
The far larger one that rarely gets a mention is population growth. TL has over 9 children per family. Its population will double in the next 15 years. Family planning ? not well supported as an idea with 92% of people being Catholic. The Church’s view -???
So candide and altruist . Of course the coments that existing oil on Timor sea is the true reason is a absolutly , complet absourd lie of dirt minds. They are so friendly and humanitarian all over.