Small island states praise green efforts of Beijing

ST. JOHN'S, Antigua and Barbuda — China can be a very important partner to many Small Island Developing States, said a senior United Nations official in a recent interview with Xinhua News Agency during a UN conference held in Antigua and Barbuda.

Achim Steiner, head of the UN Development Programme, who attended the fourth International Conference on Small Island Developing States, or SIDS, said China today is a major partner to many countries because it provides affordable technologies for building renewable energy infrastructure.

The conference, held under the theme "Charting the course toward resilient prosperity" from Monday through Thursday, addressed the world's most pressing challenges, including climate change and achieving sustainable goals.

He told Xinhua that one of the great challenges in the coming years for small island countries is moving toward a renewable energy platform rather than importing fossil fuels to power their energy systems, diesel generators, cars and trucks.

"The SIDS have to spend roughly $3 billion or 3.3 percent of their GDP just on importing fuel to power their economy," Steiner said.

"UNDP has a long tradition of working with SIDS, and over the last 10 years, it has invested over $4 billion and mobilized financing resources to support SIDS with almost 1,900 projects."

UNDP data indicated that from 1970 to 2020, SIDS suffered a loss of $153 billion due to extreme weather, a substantial amount compared to the average GDP of $13.7 billion for SIDS.

Steiner said China has played an important role in collaborating with UNDP in some of the early recovery and reconstruction work by helping SIDS invest in climate resilience and adaptation to make weather in the future much more predictable.

Xinhua