Futurity.org – Australia owes East Timor climate aid, says study

AUS) — East Timor is particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change and Australia has a moral and historical obligation to help, a new study finds. 

...“The legacy of several hundred years of outside occupation has led to a situation where Timor is grossly underdeveloped through no fault of its own,” finds a report by Jeremy Moss from the University of Melbourne’s Nossal Institute of Global Health.

...“Timor Leste should not have to bear the cost associated with global mitigation efforts,” the report reads.

The report, Climate Change and Energy Poverty in Timor-Leste, finds Australia’s northern neighbor is heavily reliant on imported fossil fuels for energy production and wood burning for cooking.

“This means those East Timorese lucky enough to have access to electricity pay extremely large bills while those who don’t suffer the health effects associated with prolonged wood burning,” Moss says.

The report finds East Timor isn’t capable of adequately upgrading its energy infrastructure without outside help.