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parajuliranjan@yahoo.com
30 April, 2011
Highlights on
Energy Security for Climate Change Adaptation.
General:
“Adaptive capacity is also the resilience of communities to variability, and change (including
but not limited to climate change) is a function of environmental, social and financial assets
and the ongoing capability to transform these assets into human well-being. Adaptive
capacity (or equivalently, resilience) in this formulation is the sum of assets and
capabilities” [Source: IISD, 2006]
Decentralized renewable energy provides energy for irrigation pumping (to adapt
with the consequences appeared due to water scarcity and the need of pumping) and
post-harvest processing ( to ensure food security), which in turn provides new
natural resource management options and supports in livelihood opportunities.
Better lighting expands educational opportunities and livelihood options basically in
country like Nepal, where majority population resides on rural areas
Energy services also improve access to safe water and sanitation services, reduce
exposure to indoor pollutants, and make possible access to refrigerated vaccines—all
of which reduce health risks if are expected to get deteriorated due to extreme
events and climatic variations.
Bio mass energy production (cultivation of autonomous and commercial biomass
stocks, which is more relevant for developing country like Nepal, where more than
80% of energy supply is fulfilled by it) affects both water and land resource
management when implemented on a watershed and targeted towards the
rehabilitation of degraded land. This ensures proper land management, conservation
of bio-diversity, increases productivity and opens avenues for livelihood opportunities
and resources for energy carriers.
Regardless there are many other opportunities that are facilitated by decentralized energy
system, but the major concern to ensure the benefits of energy security towards climate
change adaptation is the adoption of appropriate means of energy planning and
management. Energy access should not be increased just for the sake of access only but
needs to be driven by market forces. Mostly in developing countries energy development
are technology driven instead of demand driven (lack of significant role of market forces).
Let us take one example; promotion of micro/mini hydro has a significant role in addressing
the energy security in rural hamlets. But the major challenge on its sustainability is the very
low load factor. If the demand assessment is carried out considering the need of power for
end-uses (agro-processing, rural cottage industries and other income generating activities)
at the core and lighting services as a complimentary role, it has two distinct advantages.
One access to lighting services is easily ascertained and secondly end-uses promotion helps
in sustainable operation of the system, promotes many opportunities of livelihood, which
better address the key functions of resilience as discussed above. In this way adaptation
towards the changes can be materialized.
However on dealing with the issues of climate change adaptation and renewable energy
linkages, the aspect required to be understood and considered seriously is looking after the
vulnerabilities of energy resources and technologies itself. Hence, promotion of energy
technologies needs to be carried out considering two things; one how it will compliment in
addressing to the social, economic and environmental vulnerabilities and secondly how the
development can be initiated that can better address the risk/vulnerabilities on the
technology itself and its associated resources.
The following two Tables provide rough elaboration on how decentralized energy
compliments in the adaptation process and relation of energy security towards climate
change adaptation process.
Table 1: Broad examples of roles of decentralized energy on climate change adaptation