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United Nations Development ProgrammeDrylands Development Centre

“Working with people to fight poverty in the dry areas of the world”

Sustainable Energy for Drylands Communities

Sustainable Energy as a key driver for Development

Energy plays a critical role in development as access to sustainable energy services contributes to poverty eradication, saves lives, improves health and helps to provide for basic human needs. Yet, 1.4 billion people worldwide are currently without access to electricity; while 3 billion people rely on wood, coal, charcoal or animal waste for cooking and heating. A well-performing energy system that improves efficient access to modern forms of energy would strengthen the opportunities for the poorest people on the planet, including drylands communities, to escape the worst impacts of poverty. Even though this is the case, access to sustainable energy services still falls short; in fact, the International Energy Agency predicts that in 2030 nearly as many people will lack modern energy services as do today. In a global economy, this is inequitable - and unsustainable. The key to these challenges is to provide sustainable energy for all - energy that is accessible, cleaner and more efficient.

In 2011, The UN Secretary General launched the Sustainable Energy for All (SE4A) initiative which aims to bring together the three pillars of sustainable development: economic, social and environmental. Stakeholders have been urged to take concrete action towards achieving the three critical objectives below by 2030:

• Ensuring universal access to modern energy services.• Doubling the global rate of improvement in energy

efficiency.• Doubling the share of renewable energy in the global

energy mix.

Sustainable Energy for Drylands Communities

The drylands offer unexploited potential for renewable energy such as solar and wind, and other sources, e.g. biofuels from Jatropha and other sources that could be harnessed to help meet their energy needs as well as to propel development in

these areas. In spite of this, access to sustainable, affordable and reliable energy services still remains extremely limited and out of reach for most drylands communities. In the drylands, demand for biomass (especially wood) still surpasses the supply; this is forcing drylands communities to over-exploit their natural resource base, leading to its degradation.

While the lack of access to reliable energy affects both men and women, its impacts are disproportionately affecting women: burdened with the task of providing for the energy needs of their families for cooking and heating, women have to spend a lot of their time collecting fuel wood, cow dung, etc. While drylands present opportunities for renewable energy generation; they also present a huge challenge due to the lack of financial resources, technical capacity and expertise of the communities living there to develop these opportunities further.

Sustainable energy is closely linked to the drylands development agenda in the following ways:

1. Access to modern energy services for poverty reduction: Very often, drylands communities do not have access to electricity and thus end-up relying predominantly on traditional fuels such as wood, charcoal and dung for cooking and heating. However, in cases where appropriate solar energy systems for dryland households have been introduced, these do not only have a direct impact on the health of household members, but they also release women from the burden of looking for fuel wood, etc., to focus on other economic and productive activities and enable children to dedicate more time to learning. In addition, they act as engines for income generating activities (such as small scale processing, phone charging, sewing) and thus help to diversify livelihoods. For instance, solar-powered pumps are being used for pumping of water from sank boreholes to be used for human consumption and animal watering. The water stored in tanks is also used to establish and manage vegetable gardens. The vegetables produced are used to supplement the diet of drylands communities which are often animal protein based, resulting in a more balanced nutrition for growing children, expectant mothers and the elderly.

2. Access to modern energy services for climate change mitigation: Access to sustainable energy does not only create means for much needed alternative sources of income and improved livelihoods for dryland households but also reduces pressure on increasingly fragile ecosystems. At present, the lack of capacity to utilize alternative energy sources and the increasing demand for fuel wood and its by-products such as charcoal from rural communities and adjacent urban dwellers is putting a big strain on delicate drylands ecosystems and accelerating land degradation due to the continuous removal of trees and shrubs.

Supporting drylands communities to gain access to sustainable (renewable) and reliable energy sources as opposed to the usage of traditional biomass for lighting, cooking and heating will contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and mitigating the risk of climate change impacts.

3. Generation of renewable energy: The drylands offer great opportunities for the large-scale generation of energy from alternative/renewable sources such as wind and solar. To achieve this goal, targeted public and private sector investments in the drylands would be required for translating this large potential into reality.

Sustainable Energy as a component of UNDP’s Integrated Drylands Development Programme The UNDP Drylands Development Centre (DDC) has been implementing the Integrated Drylands Development Programme (IDDP) since 2002 in direct support of the UNCCD and its global significance for achieving the MDGs and sustainable development in the drylands. The IDDP contributes to poverty reduction through the sustainable development of drylands leading to reduced vulnerability and improved livelihoods.

Access to sustainable energy services for the people living in the drylands directly impacts on their chances to move out of poverty. The provision of appropriate sustainable energy services (based on solar, wind and/or bio fuel energy sources) to drylands communities has therefore become a prominent part of IDDP’s integrated sustainable livelihood interventions at the local level. The examples below illustrate IDDP’s current and envisaged future work in this area:

Example 1: Access to alternative energy sources: Harnessing of solar energy for the use of health institutions in Ethiopia

In Ethiopia, the IDDP is supporting the Afar Regional Government to implement the Afar Integrated Dryland Management Project (AIDLM). AIDLM aims to improve the livelihood and coping mechanisms of pastoral communities of 5 Woredas (or districts) by enhancing their capacity to sustainably manage and use natural resources through the implementation of on-the-ground adaptation activities that were identified in the Woredas Climate Change Adaptation Programmes.

One of the reasons for severe deforestation in the Afar region is the excessive use of forest resources as an energy source for income generation and construction purposes. Afar region also experiences high occurrences of spreading human and livestock diseases; yet health institutions, responsible for providing medical services in the region, face shortages of medicines and medical supplies due to the lack of a reliable energy supply to enable the use of refrigerators to preserve these medicines from spoilage as a result of excessive temperatures typical in the region. On the other hand, the region has huge resources that can be used as alternative energy sources, such as solar and wind. To make use of this opportunity, the AIDLM also identifies and develops alternative energy sources for dryland communities living in Afar. To date, the AIDLMP has successfully promoted the adoption and use of solar energy in 5 Rural Health Posts/Institutes which received 10 solar panels each with a capacity of producing 1300 watts. This enables the heath institute to run one big deep- freezer for storing medication and vaccines, and more than 20 lamps of 60 watts - fully serving the entire electric requirements of each rural health institute for 24 hours. In areas where schools and health institutes are closely co-located, the schools have the opportunity to use electricity for teaching and mini-media purposes upon agreement with the health institute - doubling the original purpose of solar electrification.

 

Example 1: Continued

The health institutes are now enjoying the multiple advantages of solar electrification: They are able to preserve vaccination drugs and consequently accomplish planned community vaccinations/ immunizations at required times. Regular night service to patients such as distribution of medication, monitoring of patients’ vital statistics, etc., and necessary emergency treatment is provided at any time of the night. This has resulted in the improved functioning of the health institutes, drastic upgrading of services being provided to the pastoral and agro pastoral communities, as well as in the reduction of their health related risks.

It is evident that the introduction of such technologies will have other multiple advantages such as increasing opportunities for night studies for school going children, introduction of adult literacy education etc., in addition to reducing environmental impacts. Based on this success, the Afar communities have requested AIDLM to support to establishment of solar systems for 3 additional health institutions.

Furthermore, the Government of Ethiopia has developed and launched its Climate Resilient Green Economy Strategic Plan aimed at helping the country curb the rise in greenhouse gas emissions as it accelerates its growth rate over the coming years. The Strategy will provide focus on renewable energy and efficient sources of energy, clean production processes in both agriculture and industry, and enhanced sustainable management of forests. This is an area that the IDDP plans to build on.

Example 2: Sustainable Energy for Development in the Oases of Morocco

The Oases cover 15% of Morocco and are home to 5.5% of its population. They present a fragile ecosystem subject to desertification and drought particularly in the context of climate change. A national strategy for their development is in place supported by UNDP Morocco - with technical assistance from the Drylands Development Center. The Oases have a great potential for Sustainable Energy use, with 3000 to 3500 hours of sun/year and up to 2650 KWh/m2/year. A Public Private Partnership initiated recently was successful in promoting sustainable energy use in the oases to drive the local development process.

In the Oasis of Fezna for example, a $1.2 million project enabled the use of solar and wind energy for: i) public street lighting with efficient LED lights; and ii) water pumping and drip irrigation of adapted crops to promote sustainable agriculture. The existence of an enabling environment facilitates replication and scaling up of this experience across the Oases of Morocco. This includes the presence of an active network of locally elected officials, the availability of national commitment and financial resources for co-financing, and the preparation of a feasibility study to guide the process. Using existing knowledge networks and advocacy channels, UNDP-DDC also plays a prominent role at the appropriate policy level in promoting sustainable energy services as a key supporting factor in achieving a land degradation neutral world, and in helping to facilitate that sustainable energy concerns and required actions points be included in the on-going revision/alignment of National Action Plans to Combat Desertification (NAPs).

 

 

For more information, please visit http://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/ourwork/environmentandenergy/focus_areas/sustainable_landmanagement.html or contact us at ddc@undp.org.

The work of DDC has been supported by the Governments of Denmark, Finland, Japan, Norway and Turkey, and the European Union.