ethanol fuel production and use in kenya for sustainable ... - lumes

The high food and good prices leads to poverty and hunger (CLD on Figure 1) this is becausefamilies are forced to cut down their domestic expenditure with the poorer families having tocut down their food budget driving the poor into hunger. The high oil prices experienced afterthe hurricane Katrina led many into hunger in some many African countries such as Malawiwere the food prices had greatly been affected by the price of oil (Mageria, 2005).Lastly, high transport costs triggered by the oil prices (CLD on Figure 1) make travelling bycar expensive especially for the students and people that have to commute daily to work; theyare forced to opt to walk for long distances to school leading to fatigue, low productivity andinsecurity for the people having to walk through unsafe areas. For instance when the oil priceswere at 76 Kenya Shillings 4 a litre, the “matatu” owners (private public transport car owners)increased fares countrywide those operating between Nairobi and Mombasa increased theirfares from 500 to 800 shillings per person, while those travelling to Kisumu and westernKenya had to pay at least 600 shillings from an average of 400 shillings citing high cost offuel (Senelwa, 2005).2.1.3 IMPACT ON THE ENVIRONMENTIndoor Air PollutionAs earlier stated and in reference to Figure 1, the high cost of kerosene and LPG triggers theuse of biomass fuels (firewood charcoal, dung and crop residues) for cooking. This has beenreported as being the leading source of indoor concentrations of health damaging pollutantssuch as carbon monoxide, particulates, benzene and formaldehyde which arise from theincomplete combustion in stoves (UNDESA - UNDP - WEC, 2000); these pollutants havebeen linked to diseases such as lung cancer, tuberculosis, acute and chronic respiratorydiseases to especially women and children that spend long hours in poorly ventilated smokefilled kitchens.Land DegradationWhen people are not able to meet their basic needs they are forced to overuse environmentalresources in order to survive; the overuse of the environment leads to deeper poverty fromdeclining yields and reduced natural capital (WCED, 1987). This makes the survival of thepoor even more difficult. This vicious cycle of poverty and environmental degradation isillustrated in the CLD on Figure 1 by the reinforcing loop R1. Land degradation results fromdeforestation which leads to soil erosion and the use of dung and plant residues for fuel whichcould have been used as manure for the soils.Global WarmingGlobal warming is a process that is going on as a result of the build-up of greenhouse gasesthat absorb the thermal radiation which is emitted by the earth’s surface and act like a blanketover the surface (Houghton, 2005). Evidence from climate studies shows that the earth isgetting warmer and is anticipated to increase (Carter, 2001). Studies show that during the lastcentury, the average surface temperatures on earth rose between 0.2 and 0.6° C and wasprojected to further increase by between 1.4 and 1.8° C by the year 2100 (Carter, 2001). Someof the greenhouse gases responsible for global warming are carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) methane(CH 4 ) and nitrous oxide (N 2 O) among which CO 2 which to date has contributed about 70% of4 In 2005, 1 US Dollar has been equivalent to an average of 74 Kenya Shillings.9