1(a). Protecting the earth's atmosphere (Chapter 9)
1(b). Combatting deforestation (Chapter 11)
1(c). Combatting desertification (Chapter 12)
In developing countries, the relatively low consumption of energy is both a cause and an effect of existing development problems. Increased consumption without regulatory controls will only be possible at the high price of a destroyed environment.
Household energy programmes help to conserve resources whilst striving to cover the demand for energy. The following outline summarises the contributions such programmes can make to Agenda 21, in the areas of environmental protection and resource conservation.
Agenda 21 calls on the international community to take action in response to the threatening climatic changes of the earth's atmosphere. One of the stated objectives is to reduce the level of emissions produced by the energy sector. The need to provide for an adequate supply of energy as energy consumption increases in developing countries must also be taken into account.
In principle wood is a renewable energy source and as such does not contribute to global atmospheric changes, nor to the destruction of the ozone layer, provided that the amount of wood used is compensated by an equal amount of growth in existing or new forests. In many areas this compensating growth is insufficient, and heavy urban fuel demand can be a contributory or exacerbating factor.
Present patterns of biomass combustion, combined with insufficient regrowth, increase atmospheric CO2 and release greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, leading to global warming. There is no question that the industrialized countries contribute by far the largest share to these global climate changes. In view of this fact, a goal of the Convention on Climate Change is also to stress the particular responsibility of developed countries for their part in global environmental protection and to strive for specific commitments to reduce their levels of CO2 emissions to 1990 levels.
Although only a small proportion of total greenhouse-gas emissions are attributable to the combustion of firewood in developing countries, household energy projects can cut these emissions significantly through fuelwood savings and more efficient energy utilization. It is a little-known fact that complete combustion of biomass in stoves and ovens prevents the emission of PIC gases such as methane and carbon monoxide, and other hydrocarbons. Assuming that average energy consumption will have to increase by about 70% to achieve sustainable development and better living conditions for people in the South, household energy projects which seek to improve both combustion efficiency and reduce consumption will have to be assigned a greater role in efforts to alleviate the greenhouse effect.
In many cases, the substitution of traditional energy sources is incompatible with the customs of a given society, and people are extremely hesitant or unable to switch to alternative energy sources. As energy consumption from biomass will continue to rise, the only practicable strategy is to improve methods of combustion and reduce per capita consumption, whilst ensuring adequate reproduction of resources used.
Household energy programmes are also relevant to the Agenda 21 principle of promoting research and development as well as the transfer and utilization of environment-friendly and efficient energy systems.
In a few countries, national research institutions are being supported which deal with this topic. In particular, the use of renewable energies regarded as the „cleanest" forms of energy in terms of their effects on the climate plays a role here.
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Environmental Impact Assessments: GTZ-Supported projects in Mali and Niger. In view of the increasing threat to the earth's atmosphere from emissions of carbon monoxide (CO2) and damage to the ozone layer, the ecological impacts of household energy projects have become a focus of attention in recent years. The conservation of forests as an important reservoir of CO2 is assigned a high priority in this context. Use of improved stoves saves energy and helps to conserve forests. Further relevant environmental benefits of improved stoves result from the complete combustion of woody biomass, which reduces toxic emissions considerably. Investigations in GTZ supported projects in Niger and Mali show, for example, that the quantity of CO2 bound in wood amounts to 150 kg per improved stove per year in Bamako, and 54 kg in Niamey (the figures vary considerably due to the fact that the amount of woody biomass preserved by the use of improved stoves, and as a consequence the rate of the forest increment, is much higher in Mali than in Niger). The use of improved metal stoves reduces the level of CO2 emissions by as much as 946 kg per stove per year in Bamako and up to 285 kg in Niamey. - GTZ |
Chapter 11 of Agenda 21 supplements the calls for protection, conservation and sustainable management of forests in all climatic zones as formulated in the Forest Declaration.
Household energy programmes regard the reduction of fuelwood consumption as one of their main objectives, as more efficient energy use can help to reduce the clearcutting of forests, especially in urban fuel-catchment areas. Wherever deadwood that has already dried is collected and burned to cover the user's own demand for fuel, the removal of wood is beneficial for the forest. Such dead wood should be removed in order to prevent disease, for example.
But in many countries, ecosystems are being damaged through uncontrolled cutting of zones which are still ecologically intact, either as clearance for agriculture, for export purposes, or to supply larger cities. Household energy projects therefore often concentrate their activities on large cities and refugee camps, where the demand for firewood is high.
In certain rural areas as well, deforestation is on the rise and firewood scarcity increases. Wherever natural resources are scarce and no alternative fuels are available to take their place, strategies aimed at saving or conserving energy - by cooking fewer meals or boiling less water, for example - will not keep the last trees and shrubs from being cut for fuel. In some cases the damage is already irreversible, leading to erosion, degeneration into steppes and desertification. At this point, it is usually no longer possible to halt these processes through tree-planting or afforestation measures, or only at extremely high cost.
Agenda 21 addresses the need to counteract a worldwide underestimation of the value of forests for the environment and calls for the implementation of afforestation, reforestation and greenification measures. Household energy projects make important contributions towards achieving these goals through awareness-raising and sensitization activities and by accompanying the dissemination of improved household technologies with sustainably-managed, community-based afforestation and tree-planting measures.
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FAO Activities on Household Energy Due to continuous deforestation and population growth, a widening gap between wood energy supply and demand has become apparent in many developing countries. Focal situations may vary significantly, some rural regions may have abundant wood resources while others experience acute lack of fuelwood and charcoal. Large differences between urban and rural areas can exist, with fuelwood and charcoal being part of a fuel mix which also comprises fossil fuels (kerosene, gas, etc). Scarcity of woodfuel results in increased prices, thus promoting a switch to fossil fuels. In rural areas, shortage of fuelwood often results in a switch to less efficient and lower value fuels such as agricultural wastes and dung, thereby limiting or preventing their utilization as fodder, manure or fertilizer. The FAO Wood Energy Programme's strategy to maintain and improve the sustainable use of woody biomass for energy includes the following measures: I) conservation through more efficient use of fuelwood; II) increased productivity of existing forest resources by creating high yield fuelwood plantations; III) fuel substitution. Although fuelwood programmes are under way in many countries, activities need to be intensified on a scale proportional to the need, with emphasis on major fuelwood-deficit areas and on direct participation of rural people in developing their own fuelwood supplies. The main priorities of FAO's wood energy programme are: a) to help local authorities develop activities and programmes for fuelwood-deficit areas; b) to promote an integrated approach in order to use wood in an environmentally-friendly manner. Activities also cover improvement in the production of charcoal and wood-based commercial energy for industrial as well as rural community needs, such as decentralized electricity generation. Case studies are under preparation in Peru, Honduras and Argentina regarding the use of wood for electricity generation. FAO is also sponsoring different regional wood energy meetings in Latin America and Asia. - FAO |
Agenda 21 emphasizes the importance of combatting desertification as a priority in the international context. A worldwide convention to combat desertification was convened in Paris in 1994, and their recommendations for action are currently open to ratification by governments. Suggested measures include the following:
* preserving and reinforcing vegetational cover;* supporting the population in adapting unfavourable, non-sustainable forms of management to make them sustainable;
* integrating activities into cross-sectoral programmes.
The degradation of vegetational cover has grown severe in some areas. Natural causes interact with causes attributable to human activity and exacerbate each other, accelerating the desertification process. Subsistence farmers are forced to settle in semi-arid or arid zones on which only extensive, low-yield agriculture is now possible. Cultivation of clearcut fields and brushfires, destroy vegetational cover, overpasturization destroys the land, and ultimately bushes and shrubs are cut down for fuel. What is left behind is karstic soil, exposed to the sun and wind and finally washed away by the rain.
Household energy programmes work actively to protect the soil against erosion, with measures which include the planting of hedges and shrubs, which can not only be used as fuel but also provide protection against erosion.
Household energy components are integrated into rural regional development programmes and agricultural extension projects. Erosion prevention, afforestation and household energy measures supplement each other in a meaningful way and form an integral part of cross-sectoral programmes, such as those proposed in Agenda 21 on combatting desertification. At the policy level, the projects offer advisory services, providing inputs into national energy policy strategies.
Agenda 21 states that it is only possible to combat desertification if the affected population plays an active and voluntary role in the measures. This is relatively simple in stoves projects since the use of technologies has economic and social advantages. In rural areas of the Sahel, improved clay stoves have proved to be beneficial for the local population since they can be made by the owners/users from local materials. If the stoves are properly used and maintained, considerable savings on wood can be achieved. Research by GTZ indicates the potential for up to 40% savings on the wood consumed by a traditional three-stone fire, which, depending on the area and other factors, can amount to 1 ha of savannah over three years.
