Ana Elisa Osorio

Venezuela Stakes Its Bets on Clean Energy

The development of alternative energy sources should be a central matter at World Summit on Sustainable Development, says Venezuela's environment minister.

CARACAS - Venezuela does not contribute excessively to the emissions of greenhouse gases that cause climate change, despite being a petroleum producing country, said Venezuelan environment minister Ana Elisa Osorio in an exclusive Tierramérica dialogue.

Although 75 percent of the country's exports involve petroleum, the country is promoting renewable energy projects, and this is a matter that Osorio says must be taken up at the World Summit on Sustainable Development, to begin Aug 26 in Johannesburg, South Africa.

A surgeon, 51, she served as assistant minister of health under the Hugo Chávez government from February 1999 to August 2000, when she took the lead at the environment ministry. Osorio has also represented the Group of 77 (G77) developing countries in several international negotiations.

Tierramérica: What expectations of the Johannesburg Summit are there among the G77, a group that includes some of the world's poorest nations?

Osorio: The G77 has as its guiding principle the elimination of poverty, and that has to be a central issue at Johannesburg. How can we talk about development if two-thirds of the planet's population are poor? The construction of a sustainable development model must be accompanied by the elimination of poverty.


Your country has differentiated itself from other oil producers in the preparatory process for the Summit, supporting the Brazilian proposal to achieve 10 percent clean energy sources by 2010, in spite of the fact that 75 percent of Venezuela's exports depend on fossil fuels. How was support for that initiative achieved?

The Brazilian proposal is of great interest to us. We have always defended the possibility of alternative energy. Venezuela has relatively clean consumption, given that around 60 percent of its electrical energy comes from hydroelectric dams. We see this as related to the sustainable human development of the rural environment and small communities.


In what sense?

As President Hugo Chávez has said, alternative energy sources are one option for bringing electricity to isolated indigenous communities. In our country we are studying and promoting renewable energy sources in rural communities. We do not believe this means a reduction in the consumption of fossil fuels because we are talking about incorporating communities into the electrical service that have no other source. On the other hand, Venezuela does not play an important role in the emissions of greenhouse gases. We must insist on the principle of shared but differentiated responsibilities. The industrialized countries are the ones who bear the greatest responsibility.


Do you think it is feasible for the region to achieve the 10 percent clean energy target by 2010? Through what policies?

It will be possible if we begin work on small-scale projects in rural and indigenous communities, and if the principal objective is to incorporate them into sustainable development efforts.


What will be Latin America's main emphasis at the Johannesburg Summit?

The other major issue: ethics. A proposal by Colombia, which we have adopted as a Latin American issue, is to incorporate a new ethics into sustainable development. The environmental question is one of values, because we are talking about patterns of production and consumption, of the relationships between society and nature, of how we take advantage of natural resources.


Many people believe that the weak point of the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro was the lack of commitments from industrialized countries to the agreements adopted at the time.

It is not clear whether that behavior will change. The experience at the last preparatory conference (for the Johannesburg Summit) in Indonesia was very complicated and difficult. We saw little flexibility, particularly from Japan, United States, Canada and Australia. We have to stake our bets on the success of this Summit, which would be a victory for everyone. We humans have a shared home, which is the Earth, and we all depend on its sustainability.

* Andrés Cañizález is an IPS correspondent.