Page 11 - Islands Business June 2023

Transport Transport

NAVIGATING SUSTAINABLE

TRANSPORT

WAAN AELÕÑ IN MAJEL

By Samantha Magick Sitting by the lagoon in Majuro, Kelen describes their evolu-
tion—from securing their first grant when the then-Australian
Sustainable sea transport for Alson Kelen is not just about Ambassador was so impressed by a ride on the canoe and what
getting down to zero emissions. possibilities it posed, wrote a grant application for them, to
“We have to understand that sustainable sea transport also their recent work developing a unit on canoes for Marshall
means helping with non-communicable disease, helping edu- Islands’ elementary schools.
cation, helping many, many things that we talk about when From its early days, WAM looked for ways to connect young
we go to these big UN meetings; women’s rights, gardening, people on outer atolls who were falling through the gaps, to
and all those things,” says Kelen, who is co-founder and Direc- broader opportunities.
tor of Waan Aelõñ in Majel (WAM or in English, Canoes of the Continued on page 32
Marshall Islands).

THE BID TO CUT CARBON EMISSIONS IN SHIPPING

When the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) year: “A key research finding is that moving a localised
meets in London in early July, it will discuss ways to cut shipping transition agenda forward requires additional
shipping emissions. prioritisation and capitalisation by Pacific states and
The IMO’s Pacific Island members, led by the Marshall financial partners ready to support decarbonisation of
Islands, are pushing for an improvement on the public services under an economic model of avoided
organisation’s current goal of halving emissions by 2050. loss, not commercial profitability. Building upon this
They want emissions at zero in that same time frame. unique and valuable analytical and design work will
Writing ahead of the IMO negotiations in Islands enable our countries to make more informed shipping
Business recently, RMI President, David Kabua noted: decarbonisation decisions for their domestic fleets.”
“Equally important, they will determine if a greenhouse Pacific Elders Voice—a group which includes former
gas levy on global shipping can be used to make clean RMI President, Hilda Heine—says the IMO meeting will
fuels cost competitive, while generating the funds have long-term consequences for the economies and
necessary to finance this transition and ensure that the societies of the Pacific.
most vulnerable countries are supported as they deal “As many commentators and experts have noted,
with the impacts of climate change, as the Marshall MEPC80 is the industry’s last opportunity to secure a 1.5
Islands, Solomon Islands, and others in the Pacific have degrees-aligned pathway. Failure to agree on a Revised
proposed.” Strategy will result in a patchwork of regional measures,
While local initiatives such as Waan Aelõñ in Majel in further isolating developing countries as decarbonisation
Marshall Islands and the Uto ni Yalo in Fiji have pioneered becomes more expensive, and leave them grappling with
the scaling up of traditional, sustainable transport at the the impacts on their small and fragile economies with no
community level, Project Cerulean—an effort to research assistance or intervention,” PEV said in a statement.
and design a low-carbon, wind powered, commercially-
operating freighter to stimulate outer-island Pacific trade, For updates from the IMO meeting, visit
proved not to be viable in a post-pandemic market. islandsbusiness.com
As Andrew Irvin wrote for Islands Business earlier this

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