SIDS Dock IWON Quick Facts
What is SIDS DOCK? A working definition: SIDS DOCK is so named because it is designed as a “DOCKing station,” to connect the energy sector in SIDS with the global markets for finance, sustainable energy technologies and carbon. The SIDS DOCK organisation was established to provide SIDS with a mechanism:
- Through which SIDS can access investment financing from the global markets and from entities such as pension funds, and labour unions, and social responsible investment funds wanting to support sustainable energy development.
- For coordinating the development of technical capacity, sharing of technical expertise and the provision of technical support to adaptation and mitigation activities, and sustainable development.
- To assist SIDS transition to a sustainable energy sector through the acquisition and transfer of sustainable energy technologies and by increasing energy efficiency and conservation and development of renewable energy.
- For participating in the global carbon market and to conduct advocacy and develop cooperative agreements with parties who wish to assist with financial resources.
The SIDS DOCK Vision:
The People’s Energy Vision for SIDS…Island Energy for Island Life.
The SIDS DOCK Mission
To catalyse the transformation of the energy sector of SIDS to increase energy security, reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), and generate resources for investment in adaptation to climate change.
SIDS DOCK Goals
To increase energy efficiency by 25 percent (2005 baseline) and to generate a minimum of 50 percent of electric power from renewable sources and a 50 percent decrease in conventional transportation fuel use by 2033: Island Energy for Island Life 25-50-25 by 2033.
SIDS DOCK Partnership Core Value Statement
“United in Implementing Project Activities”
%
Energy Efficiency Increase
%
Electric Power from Renewable Sources
%
Decrease in Conventional Transportation Fuel Use by
How It All Began
In 2010, at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference of Parties meeting (COP 16), in Cancun, Mexico, Small Island Developing States launched the SIDS Sustainable Energy and Climate Resilience Initiative – SIDS DOCK – as the SIDS-owned mechanism to bring about the transformation of the SIDS energy sector, which is considered by islands as the most effective and sustainable manner to build resilience to climate change. The SIDS DOCK goal is to increase energy efficiency by 25 percent (2005 baseline) and to generate a minimum of 50 percent of electric power from renewable sources and a 50 percent decrease in conventional transportation fuel use by 2033: Island Energy for Island Life 25-50-25 by 2033.
It was in 2009, that SIDS DOCK Members began the process of establishing the organisation through a Memorandum of Agreement, and on 1 September 2014, the Statute Establishing the SIDS DOCK was signed by 20 states, during the Ceremony for the Opening of the Signing of the Statute Establishing the SIDS DOCK, on the margins of the United Nations Third International Meeting on Small Island Developing States, in Apia, Samoa, in September 2014. The Statute came into force on 27 September 2015, and members convened a ratification ceremony on 30 September 2015, on the margins of the 70th United Nations (UN) General Assembly, in New York, to celebrate the legal recognition of entry into force of the SIDS DOCK Treaty, recognising the establishment of the historic intergovernmental organisation vested with the full powers of the United Nations. In December 2015, on the margins of the UNFCCC COP 21, in Paris, France, the First Session of the SIDS DOCK Assembly was held, where members were elected to serve as President, Vice Presidents, and on the Executive Council. In June 2016, the First Session of the SIDS DOCK Executive Council was held in New York, where the SIDS DOCK Registration Certificate from the UN Secretary General, received on 3 June 2016, was tabled at the meeting.
Belize is the SIDS DOCK Host County, and the Belize-based Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Climate Change Centre (CCCCC/5Cs) is the designated Interim SIDS DOCK Secretariat.
SIDS DOCK ISLAND WOMEN OPEN NETWORK (IWON)
On 21 January 2016, the SIDS DOCK Island Women Open Network (SIDS DOCK IWON) convened its first meeting, held on the margins of the First Caribbean Regional Waste-to-Energy Technology Expo and Conference, at the Grenada Trade Centre, in St. George’s, Grenada, 20-23 January 2016. This meeting was in follow up to the launch of the SIDS DOCK IWON at the United Nations Third International Meeting on Small Island Developing States, in Apia, Samoa, in September 2014, where St. Vincent and the Grenadines was nominated to serve as the Interim Chair for the SIDS DOCK IWON.
Establishment of the IWON, a SIDS DOCK Women’s Sustainable Energy and Climate Resilience Network, is intended to help build the capacity of women at the community and grassroots levels in small islands and low lying developing states to participate in the transformation of the SIDS energy sector to achieve the SIDS DOCK goal of 25-50-25 by 2033. The objective is to ensure that gender equality issues are integrated in the concept, design, implementation and evaluation of sustainable energy and climate change-related projects in the SIDS DOCK Indicative Project Pipeline, by establishing a SIDS association that provides networking opportunities that promote empowerment of women to help build community resilience to a changing climate and sea level rise through capacity building, education and awareness, demonstration of SIDS-Appropriate Technologies, and financing for sustainable energy projects.
The SIDS DOCK Island Women Open Network will be set up as an informal network with an IWON Desk responsible for overall management and coordination of network activities. The SIDS DOCK Assembly, Executive Council and the SIDS DOCK Secretariat will provide strategic guidance and direction to the network and its activities. The SIDS DOCK IWON can further rely on a group of technical advisors at the CCCCC, the CARICOM Secretariat, the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP), the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) and the Cabo Verde-based Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (ECREEE), who can support the network’s activities at the international, regional and national levels on a demand-driven basis.
The announcement in March 2014, of three Austrian-sponsored Centres for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (CCREEE) in SIDS, makes it possible to establish three IWON regional networks. The Government of Austria, through the Austrian Development Agency (ADA), has committed to fund the establishment and first operational phase for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Centres in the Caribbean (CCREEE), the Pacific (PCREEE), Indian Ocean (IOCREEE), and to provide support to the African islands at the ECREEE. These regional networks will be developed into active and vibrant networks, working closely with the IWON, the ECREEE, regional and national organisations, and with each other. There are long-term plans to have each regional IWON headed by a Regional Network Coordinator (RNC) to facilitate the process of needs assessment at the national and regional levels, and translate these into concrete network activities. Each regional network could consist of a number national networks, which are managed and coordinated by the SIDS DOCK National Coordinators.
The SIDS DOCK IWON is being supported by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), under a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). The UNIDO Energy Branch is providing technical support to facilitate the start-up activities of the SIDS DOCK IWON and to develop a Caribbean regional waste-to-energy project for scaling up to other regions.
The registration of SIDS DOCK, as the first global organisation of islands that has official United Nations (UN) status with all the powers and privileges that are appropriately accorded, is an amazing accomplishment, and means that the SIDS DOCK IWON is now positioned as a central platform in the new UN Intergovernmental Organisation of Small Island Developing States.
SIDS DOCK IWON Committee
This is a Committee of the SIDS DOCK Executive Council that has a mandate to increase and support the active participation of women in the transformation of the SIDS Energy Sector and to ensure that gender equality issues are integrated in the concept, design, implementation and evaluation of sustainable energy and climate change-related projects in the SIDS DOCK Indicative Project Pipeline.
SIDS DOCK IWON Technical Sub-committee
The Technical Sub-committee is a committee created for the purpose of giving recommendations and advise to the IWON Committee in order to provide technical advice on the implementation of the SIDS DOCK IWON Indicative Project Pipeline. The Technical Sub-committee is formed to advise the IWON Committee on project implementation issues of importance to women, and by extension, to the SIDS community, to make recommendations or have influence on decisions by other organizations or levels of government.
Belize is the SIDS DOCK Host County, and the Belize-based Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Climate Change Centre (CCCCC/5Cs) is the designated Interim SIDS DOCK Secretariat.
The main purpose of many women’s networks or forums is to keep women’s organisations connected and enable information sharing. The SIDS DOCK IWON connects women and men working in governments, regional organisations and the private sector across SIDS, who are engaged in implementing sustainable energy and climate resilience building projects.
In keeping with the SIDS DOCK Statute, Article IV, membership of the SIDS DOCK IWON shall be open to women and men from:
Any sovereign small island state or
low lying coastal developing state which signed and ratified, or acceded to the SIDS DOCK Statute;
Any sovereign small island state or
low lying coastal developing state which signed the Memorandum of Agreement Establishing the SIDS DOCK;
Any sovereign small island state or
low lying coastal developing state which is a Member of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS);
Regional Economic Integration Organisations
duly constituted by sovereign states at least one of which is a member of SIDS DOCK;
Non-government, not-for-profit, grassroots, and community-based organisations
having a sustainable energy and climate resilience building focus, from any sovereign small island state or low lying coastal developing state which signed and ratified, or acceded to the SIDS DOCK Statute;
SIDS DOCK Partners
with signed Memorandum of Agreements and Understanding.
