Turn Down the Heat: Why a 4°C Warmer World Must be Avoided Final Project:

By acting now, acting together and acting differently, we will be able to transition to a

low emissions, climate resilient development path and hold warming below 2°C.

Source: WDR 2010: Development and Climate Change

Let us act now, act together and act differently for avoiding a 4oC Warmer World!!!

Target audience:

Students that are part of renewable energy capacity program at Information Center on Renewable energy and senior advisors. Cochabamba – Bolivia.

Objective:

To share with the audience a little part of the rich information provided by the World Bank at the best course I have seen or participate at Internet, and to try to make you be part of it; try to make incidence as soon as possible in order to take care of the house we live at.

Contents of the course:

Week 1 – Climate Changes and Their Impacts Week 2 - Possible 21st Century Climate Week 3 - Life in a 4°C Warmer World Week 4 - What Can We Do? Methodology:

We will use Interview (questions and answers) in order to share about the course. Questions from Journalist to Student of the Course:

1) Did you like the course?

It is the best course I have been at. It has so valuable information, in such a pedagogic way of teaching, with so many resources. It has the best teachers, scientific laboratories, actual information, and the pictures, presentations and movies are being done taking care of all the details.

I visited Potsdam Institute in Germany; and I liked too much to see in the course some parts of the presentation I saw there; with the difference that now I had all the data, all the pictures and the specialist all for me, for constant use!

I liked the possibility for people to be learning just to know about this theme so important and also the ‘Policy and Leadership’ track which involves connecting with others in similar positions around the world, and developing new networks of practice.

I like the nice way of viewing all the information, the work to be done and all the possibilities of exploiting the Wiki:

.

2) What did you remember the most of the different movies?

All of them are spectacular. I liked a lot to see the advances reached by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, with the Leibniz Association members that is amazing for global decision-making and for monitoring data in climate change. Did you know that in that walls worked Einstein?

I liked a lot the presentation of “Risks of large-scale Changes in the Climate system”.

3) What can you tell us about your country and climate change?

I live in Bolivia, a beautiful country, where the Government 2 weeks ago declared “National emergency” because of floods in many communities.

Reyes, Beni - Bolivia, February, 2, 2014. (AFP, Aizar Raldes)1

“The rainy season, which usually begins in November and lasts until February, came forward in late September and runs until March.” This sentence reinforces what we saw at the Course.

                                                            1 http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iEU3srU0PBdI8bzcFM‐iIpV5PQxQ?docId=1f4f342e‐fb9c‐481f‐820d‐bc6333432f6c 

It is happening in many cities of the country as you can see the movies at: http://www.noticias.com.bo/videos/video-5-municipios-del-beni-en-emergencia-por-las-intensas-lluvias-red-pat-bolivia-pat/

Here it is a map of my country and some general information:

Map of Bolivia (EIU, 2012, p. 15)

Bolivia has 10.389.913 inhabitants. {INE 2013 #54}

Population Total Urban area Rural area

Bolivia 10.426.154 6.922.107 3.504.047

INE, Box Nr 2.01.11. (INE, 2012c)

Bolivia is the country with less GDP per habitant in South America and the second country in Latin America (without Caribbean area) The country with the least GDP in Lain America is Nicaragua) (ECLAC, pp. Cdr. 2.1.1.4).

51,3% of the population in Bolivia is poor, more or 5.269.390 habitants. The main energy source in isolated and remote areas in rural areas is biomass,

which on average covers 80% of the total rural energy demand (there are some areas where wood covers up to 97% of this demand, a situation that has not changed in the last 13 years). (Fernández Fuentes, 2010, p. 5)

4) Where do you work at, and what do your institution does?

I work at an NGO: CINER – Centro de información en energías renovables (Information Center on Renewable Energy). We are advisors of decision makers for renewable energy.

5) What are the problems you think must be addressed in Climate Change for working on avoiding the 4 degrees regarding to energy with what you read, heard or watch at the course:

In Bolivia there is always the fear of having shortage of Hydrocarbons (gas, LPG, Vehicular National Gas, gasoil/diesel) and electricity in some municipalities.

There is a subsidy to Hydrocarbons that nobody knows how much would last, and that is being subsidy by Government.

6) What kinds of additional adaptation and mitigation measures are most needed in your country within the energy sector?

Climate change is a serious problem that also affects negatively a large portion of the world's poorest people and the region. If we do not change the patterns of generation and use of energy it is not possible to address climate change.

We have to address some energy solutions: efficiency and clean and renewable energy with its multiple co-benefits.

It is important to create awareness within authorities in order to avoid subsidies for conventional use of hydrocarbons. They must study the best way in order to that; for example to define if civil society must pay the real price or the international price of the Hydrocarbons.

It is important to work in changing the energy matrix in order to include hybrids systems or renewable energy systems, as part of policies of Government and International cooperation.

To be part of global Alliances in order to work together, to use clean technologies such as better clean eco-stoves, ecological refrigerators, sun showers, etc.

It is important to have legal security, and incentives in order to auto-generate energy, for example with solar PV for houses, buildings or to connect them to the grid.

The efficient management of energy is a multi-sectorial issue, which is why I like the example of Zambia that we saw at the Course: 25% of their budget for Climate Change; and to create an Inter - ministerial Committee for coordinating activities.

7) What alliances are you working with or being an active member that are working in order to avoid 4oC warmer world? Members of the Monitoring and Evaluation team at the "Global Alliance for

Clean Cookstoves" which aims to achieve "100 million clean stoves to 2020." We were invited to participate after the organization of thematic groups and contributions to V World Forum for Clean air at the interior of households in February 2011. http://cleancookstoves.org

Invited as Interamerican Experts on Energy for Sustainable Development in the

Americas as part of the Alliance for Sustainable Energy in the Americas - OAS. Washington (2006, Pre Declaration of Panama), Washington International Renewable Energy WIREC (2008), ECLAC (2008) and facilitating the Symposium on Energy and Climate (2009) Invited to the Forum "Connecting the Americas: Advancing Partnerships for Action '(2013). http://www.oas.org/dsd/SpecialMeetings/ChileMeeting/Gamarra_PresentacionOEACEPAL.pdf y http://www.iamericas.org/agendas/energy09/Agenda%20borrador%20Simposio%20de%20las%20Americas%20Energia%20y%20Clima%20Spanish.pdf  http://www.iamericas.org/documents/energy/lima09/Lima_simposio_reporte_%20Espanol.pdf 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/94273802@N02/8579282631/in/set‐72157633061739160 

We participate with United nations at Merida last year (2013) in order to ask as

civil society that energy should be integrated in the post-2015 Agenda “The energy that we want for 2015”. Poverty, water supply and access, development, food security, environment sustainability… None of the issues can be tackled without considering the energy topic. Moreover, the more than looming climate change threatens to change life condition in the whole world. And it´s triggered by use of non-sustainable energy. http://participacionsocial.sre.gob.mx/post2015mid.php 

 8) What are the priority energy issues that we must address?

Global access to energy: to support the spreading of energy, but rather than a messy spreading of fossil energy, supporting development of sustainable energy that take in considerations the various resources. Taking in consideration for each place, the features of the site.

To begin to tackle seriously climate change issue, deterring use of carbon energy.

9) How do we effectively link energy issues to other related development issues, such

as poverty reduction, food security, gender and climate change? Poverty reduction: Poor people generally use the most expressive energy with a

very little efficiency. They cannot invest in best equipment. With small invests, such as in biomass o solar oven, they can gain efficiency, reducing health issues, and paying really lower energy bills. But they generally couldn´t afford invests.

Food security: without energy supply, food production and conservation are harder. And lacks of energy triggers food waste.

Gender: Women are generally the most exposed at the energy hazard. For example, the use of traditional oven with low efficiency and high dangerous emissions triggers diseases mostly for women and children.

Climate change: the use of carbon energy directly triggers climate change. 10) What specific roles should key stakeholders have?

They have the best understanding of the currently situation, and they should be in a better position to think about the energy issues and propose new solutions.

In that sense I must congratulate the efforts of the World Bank for giving us the information, the tools to make better approach to decision makers; to colleagues, to neighbors, to friends, to family in order to be part of this changing of attitudes, to act now, to act together, and to act in a different way.

Alba Patricia Gamarra de Guardia. Executive Director CINER www.ciner.org 02.19.2014