Energy needs in emergencies and protracted crises
Approximately 90% of refugees living in rural settlements have very limited access to reliable, clean and sustainable electricity or cooking or heating fuels. Over-dependency on non-sustainable woodfuel collection ad use often leads to deforestation and forest degradation, and a range of risks to human health due to indoor air pollution, and frequent conflicts with local communities.
Coordinating humanitarian response is complex by nature and the challenges of integrating sustainable energy solutions into the humanitarian program cycle increases the burden. All major actors including FAO, UNHCR, UNEP DTU Partnership (UDP), IOM and WFP are now organised around the Global Platform of Action (GPA) for Sustainable Energy Solutions in Situations of Displacement, launched at the UN's high-level policy dialogue on SDG7 in New York in 2018.
Identifying viable and sustainable energy strategies for displacement settings is essential to ensure that the SDG7 ambition can be met. For this, comprehensive and robust data collection and assessments must first be completed, as a step towards the articulation of project concepts that can be shared with public or private investors.
Key success factors and obstacles for FAO energy projects in humanitarian settings
The interaction between climate, conflict, hunger, poverty and persecution creates increasingly complex emergencies. According to UNHCR, by the end of 2019, the number of people forcibly displaced due to war, conflict, persecution, human rights violations and events seriously disturbing public order had grown to 79.5 million, the highest number on record according to available data. Crisis-affected populations – including refugees, internally displaced and the communities hosting them – often have severely constrained access to fuel and energy for cooking, heating and lighting.
This report reviewes FAO’s energy-in-emergency work carried out between 2014 and 2018, focusing on countries’ energy needs in the context of emergencies and protracted crises to build resilient livelihoods in a sustainable manner.