Public-Private Partnerships for Sustainable Development

David Stillman and Tom Kadala will join senior Dominican colleagues during the week of November 16-21 to plan the Fourth Bioenergy International Debate.   The purpose of the Fourth Bioenergy International Debate is to advance the results of the meeting held in Santo Domingo on October 7-9.   The focus will be policy recommendations that emerged from the October meeting, in the areas of finance and investment, private sector, academic organizations and inventors, and government.   All agree that bioenergy can be an important component of efforts for sustainable development.   Invitations will be sent soon by the National Energy Commission. 

While in Santo Domingo, Stillman and Kadala will also attend the XIV Regional Forum: Biofuels and Other Renewable Energies, from 18 – 20 November, hosted by the National Energy Commission, the Secretary of State for the Environment and Natural Resources, and the Energy and Environment Partnership with Central America (EEP), part of the Central American Integration System (SICA).  The meeting focuses on sustainable development in the region, and on various bioenergy case studies and technologies.  It is supported by the governments of Finland and Austria.  Member states include Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama.  The Dominican Republic is an associate member.

Mountains of garbage are a dirty reality for Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince. But with assistance from the UN Development Program, a new waste management project hopes to turn trash into a cheap source of energy. The paper waste gets pounded, mashed up, mixed with sawdust, and then squeezed into cylinders to make a dry briquette of recycled paper charcoal. Without electricity, Haiti’s population of nearly nine million depends on wood-based charcoal for fuel. So it is no surprise that the country has lost 98% of its trees. Though a tropical island, parts of Haiti are fast becoming a desert, where bare mountainsides lead to erosion and severe flooding. The briquettes could help solve Haiti’s looming environmental crisis.