Increasing access to energy services in rural areas - REEEP ...

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SUSTAINABLE ENERGY REGULATION AND POLICYMAKING TRAINING MANUAL page 10.4 The economic boom of the last 15 years has continued to damage natural systems and the increasingly visible evidence of environmental deterioration is only the tip of a much more dangerous problem: the growing inequities in wealth and income between countries and within countries, inequities that will generate enormous social unrest and pressure for change. The Worldwatch Institute has recently argued that to solve the earth’s environmental problems, the problems of the world’s poor peoples must be simultaneously addressed. 6 However, nearly half of the world’s populations live in rural areas, nearly 90 per cent of them – over 2.9 billion 7 – in the developing countries. The vast majority of these people are still dependent on the traditional fuels of wood, dung and crop residues, often using primitive and inefficient technologies. Nearly 2 billion do not yet have access to electricity. For many, this combination barely allows fulfilment of the basic human needs of nutrition, warmth and light, let alone the possibility of harnessing energy for productive uses which might begin to permit escape from the cycle of poverty. Demographic trends risk exacerbating the situation. Most of today’s 2 billion people are without adequate cooking and electricity services in rural areas, but urban populations are projected to grow more rapidly, estimated to be 60 per cent of the population by 2030. 8 Far from easing rural energy poverty, this is likely to reinforce policy-makers’ preoccupation with urban issues, while increasing competition for rural energy supplies. Dependence on traditional fuels will long remain a reality, given its level of present use (reaching over 95 per cent in some countries). It is not so much their use that is wrong, as the manner in which they are being managed and used, which is not always at a sustainable rate. Inefficient technologies and appliances mean that precious fuelwood resources are wasted and indoor smoke pollution severely impairs health. The burden of this traditional energy use falls disproportionately on women. It is calculated that an amount of energy roughly equivalent to 7 per cent of the world’s total electricity production today could cover all basic human needs if it were distributed evenly over the world’s population (World Energy Council). In an age of apparently advanced technological and management skills, we have failed in this relatively modest challenge. It is essential that a gradual transition to modern energy systems (which may utilize traditional energy sources) must be achieved if sustainable economic activity is to be realized in rural areas. 6 Worldwatch Institute – State of the World 2001, January 2001, ISBN: 0-393-04866-7. 7 The Challenge of Rural Energy Poverty in Developing Countries, Copyright © 1999, World Energy Council and Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. 8 UN Habitat, 19 September 2004, BBC World.
MODULE 10: INCREASING ACCESS TO ENERGY SERVICES IN RURAL AREAS page 10.5 This module considers populations in rural areas and how the expansion of energy services for them can link to sustainable development. It also presents some case studies in China, Indonesia, India, Brazil and other very populous nations with high total energy consumption. The module also looks at the policies countries use for increasing access to energy services in rural areas.
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