Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Welcome to our Blog!

Finland Futures Research Centre is conducting energy and climate research and designing and implementing capacity-building in the Mekong region in Southeast Asia. The Mekong region gets its name from the Mekong River which vends its way through Yunnan province in China, Vietnam, Thailand, Myanmar, Lao PDR and Cambodia.

The Mekong region has high biological and cultural diversity, and the areas vary in terms of economic development and political systems. What is common to the Mekong countries is that the energy demand is rapidly increasing due for example to industrialisation, urbanisation and rural electrification programmes.

Energy choices made in the developing countries today have long-ranging consequences, both in terms of investment and impact on the global climate. Energy is in numerous ways linked to the efforts in reducing poverty, improving human welfare and raising living standards but the energy solutions have long term impacts on environment, economy and society. The urgent question, therefore, is what type of energy supply and transmission infrastructure should be promoted. Therefore, securing access to safe, clean and sustainable energy is one of the greatest challenges of the near future.

The aim of Finland Futures Research Centre is to promote the transition to sustainable energy in the Mekong region through collaboration and networking, research and capacity-building. Sustainable energy refers to renewable energy that is also socially and economically viable in the long run.