June 7, 2010 -- President James Michel has met with the chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change, Dr. Rajendra Kumar Pachauri, to discuss climate change and sustainable development for small island island states.

The meeting took place during the President's visit last week to the the Energy and Resources Institute (TERI)  in New Delhi, where Dr Pauchauri is the director general.

Discussions took place on the sea-level rise, renewable energy, and energy efficiency in the tourism industry, particularly as Seychelles, like many other small island states, remains vulnerable to the threats posed by global warming and rising sea levels.    

"We need to expand the possibilities of using cleaner energy in Seychelles. We have already started a wind farm project, but we should also look further into solar energy as well as turning waste into energy," said President Michel during the meeting.

Dr Pachauri spoke to the President and his delegation concerning the ways in which hotels can reduce energy consumption and asserted that research conducted by the institute had concluded that up to 45-50% energy reduction was possible in hotel buildings, and this technology and model could be shared with Seychelles for future planning of new hotels.

"The work of TERI is important not only for India but for the whole world, where sustainable models that are developed by TERI may be applied everywhere. Their models for hotel buildings which reduce energy consumption could be applied to our planning models at the Seychelles Planning Authority, so that in the future hotels that are built are more climate-friendly ," said President Michel.

"Small islands like Seychelles are already affected by climate change. The sea level is rising, our corals are being bleached, and the survival of our people is at stake. Every step towards reducing the pace of climate change is important, and greater energy efficiency is step in the right direction."

President Michel also said that TERI and the University of Seychelles should start a partnership for research and degree programmes as well as organise important meetings on climate change mitigation and adaption.