Opinion | Editorials
Irena HQ should be based in UAE
It is time the UN recognised the abilities of countries outside the Western world.
- Gulf News
- Published: 23:13 June 28, 2009
Today over 114 members of the United Nations vote in Sharm Al Shaikh to establish the new International Renewable Energy Agency (Irena).
They will also vote on which of two states - the UAE or Germany - will host the agency's headquarters.
Read in-depth report on Irena
Irena will be an important United Nations agency that will set the international tone for the crucial work of expanding the contribution of renewable energy, and reducing the world's dependence on fossil fuels and other finite energy sources.
This work is vital for the survival of the human race and the world, as mankind's huge appetite for energy simply grows and grows, and will exhaust the existing supplies in the foreseeable future.
This vital work should be based in a country such as the UAE. It is pre-eminently aware of energy as an issue facing the world, and as one of the world's largest oil producers it has been involved in energy planning for decades.
It has also shown its willingness to put its money and effort into planning for a post-oil future, when Abu Dhabi launched its Masdar City as one of the world's largest renewable energy projects.
But these reasons are about the immediate environment that Irena would be based in if it came to the UAE. The far more important reason is that no UN agency has yet been based outside Europe or North America.
It is time that the UN woke up to the fact that most of the world lives on other continents which are just as forward-looking as North America and Europe, and the work of the United Nations should be spread around the globe.
Its offices should reflect its global mandate as the single body in which all nations can meet in peace. This is why Irena should be the first of many other UN bodies to come to Asia, Africa and Latin America.
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