Goundar, Avnita and Newell, Alison and Nuttall, Peter and Rojon, Isabelle and Samuwai, Jale (2017) King Canute muses in the South Seas: Why aren’t Pacific Islands transitioning to low carbon sea transport futures? Marine Policy, 81 . pp. 80-90. ISSN 0308-597X
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Abstract
Transition to low carbon sea transport is a logical response to the extreme dependency of the Pacific Islands
region on imported fossil fuel, its significant vulnerability to the effects of climate change and the critical
shipping needs of Pacific Island countries (PICs). Building on previous work in low carbon sea transport in the
Pacific, this paper further considers the barriers to achieving such transition by assessing, through a ‘post-Paris
Agreement’ lens, the Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) submitted by PICs and
contrasting these to the near total lack of investment and planning for low carbon transition in the transport
sector with the parallel occurrence in the electricity sector where ~USD 2 billion of donor investment is
deployed or queued despite electricity using only ~20% of fossil fuel across the region. Consistent with recent
international studies, inadequate and inappropriate financing and policy have been identified as dominant
transition barriers for low carbon sea transport development in PICs. This paper further examines the regional
level barriers to policy development, and finds them inhibited by the silo nature of the major regional actors.
The implications that the Paris Agreement has for climate financing to support the essential research and
capacity development needed to underpin a successful low carbon sea transport transition strategy at any useful
scale and speed are also considered in this paper.
| Item Type: | Journal Article |
|---|---|
| Subjects: | G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GE Environmental Sciences G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GF Human ecology. Anthropogeography H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General) H Social Sciences > HE Transportation and Communications |
| Divisions: | Faculty of Science, Technology and Environment (FSTE) > School of Marine Studies Pacific Centre for Environment and Sustainable Development (PACE-SD) |
| Depositing User: | Fulori Nainoca - Waqairagata |
| Date Deposited: | 20 Mar 2017 22:19 |
| Last Modified: | 22 Oct 2024 10:32 |
| URI: | http://repository.usp.ac.fj/id/eprint/9692 |
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