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Power subsidies reduction plan ‘can halt waste’

MANAMA, May 27, 2015

An announcement that Bahrain's government intends to cancel power and water subsidies has been welcomed by environmentalists, who expect it to foster a culture of conservation.

Bahrain spends hundreds of millions of dinars every year on keeping electricity and water costs down for consumers, but this has often been blamed for contributing to wasteful attitudes, said a report in the Gulf Daily News (GDN), our sister publication.

United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Regional Office for West Asia (ROWA) programme officer Dr Abdul Majeid Haddad said the lifting of subsidies would encourage people to change their habits.

“Water and energy are interlinked, especially in the Gulf region because we depend on energy to produce water for drinking and various other uses,” said Dr Haddad.

“Water is scarce in the region, which has limited natural resources and we need to conserve it for future generations.

“We have to reduce our dependence on desalination as it is very costly in terms of energy.

“In turn, the energy used will produce emissions harmful to human health, so we need to have a balanced policy between water production and the power used for it.”

He described subsidy cuts as one of the 'tools' available to change attitudes, but said the poorest in society should receive support.

“The region is one of the highest consumers of water and also energy - we consume more per capita than any part of the world,” he said.

“At the same time we are a water scarce region, so removing subsidies is one of the means to conserve as well as to enforce conservation policies.”

He was speaking on the sidelines of the Seventh Shaikh Zayed International Seminar titled 'Climate Change Accord: The Road from Lima to Paris 2015' at the Arabian Gulf University (AGU) yesterday.

The seminar is part of the four-day Bahrain Europe Environment Week, which started on Monday.

AGU associate professor Dr Sabah Al Jenaid said removing subsidies would help people understand the value of water and electricity.

“As long as it's free, its value is not respected - which is true with any kind of subsidies,” she said.

Supreme Council for the Environment sustainable development and climate change head Nora Alamer said people needed to be 'wise' about how they use natural resources. - TradeArabia News Service




Tags: Water | power | Subsidies |

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