UN Global Compact  |  CEO Water Mandate

Great Britain Colombia Brazil

Sustainable Energy in Situations of Displacement

<% join_label %>

Sustainable Energy in Situations of Displacement

Show Full Map
Amazon
Area: 5888268 km2
Countries:
Brazil; Peru; Suriname; France; Colombia; Guyana; Bolivia; Venezuela; Ecuador
Cities:
Santa Cruz; Manaus; La Paz
PFAF ID:
HydroBasin Level:
Baseline Water Stress:
Water Quality Stress:
Sanitation Access Stress:
Click to view individual basin.
Location
Click Icon to Show on Map
City & Country
,
()

Quick Info

Countries: United Republic of Tanzania
Basins: --
Project SDGs:
Includes Sustainable Development Goals from the project and its locations.
Protect and Restore Ecosystems (SDG 6.6)
Renewable energy (SDG 7.2)
Climate Resilience and Adaptation (SDG 13.1)
Progress to Date: NA Increased access to clean energy
Services Needed: No services needed/offered
Desired Partners: Business
City
Government
NGO / Civil Society
Labour Organization
Language: English
Start & End Dates: May. 01, 2017  »  Ongoing
Project Website: unepdtu.org/project/sustainable-energy-use-in-refugee-camps
Contextual Condition(s): PHYSICAL: Ecosystem vulnerability or degradation, PHYSICAL: Inadequate infrastructure
Additional Benefits: Basin stakeholder mapping, Raised awareness of challenges among water users, Raised awareness of challenges among local authorities
Beneficiaries: Ecosystems, Other utilities, Local communities / domestic users
Planning & Implementation Time: More than 3 years
Financial Resources: More than $500,000 USD
Primary Funding Source: pool
Project Challenges: Other
Project Source: User
Profile Completion: 87%

Project Overview

Since 2016 UDP has been working with UNHCR and other humanitarian organisations to better understand the issues and opportunities surrounding access to clean energy in situations of displacement

By the end of 2019, 79.5m people had been forcibly displaced as a result of persecution, conflict, violence, human rights violations or events seriously disturbing public order. This is more than 1% of the world’s population. UNHCR and host countries are struggling to accommodate gro…

Read More

Since 2016 UDP has been working with UNHCR and other humanitarian organisations to better understand the issues and opportunities surrounding access to clean energy in situations of displacement

By the end of 2019, 79.5m people had been forcibly displaced as a result of persecution, conflict, violence, human rights violations or events seriously disturbing public order. This is more than 1% of the world’s population. UNHCR and host countries are struggling to accommodate growing numbers of refugees, 85% of whom are hosted by low or middle-income countries.

While global data remains patchy and unstandardized, approximately 90% of refugees living in rural settlements have very limited access to reliable, clean and sustainable electricity or cooking fuels. An initial baseline of energy data in displacement was published to accompany the launch of the Clean Energy Challenge, in December 2019, though this remains limited in scope and comparability.

Fuel poverty among displaced ‘persons of concern’ often leads to unsustainable deforestation and a range of risks to human life and health, including indoor air pollution, conflict with local communities and violent crimes committed against the refugee women and children who walk to harvest woodfuel. The lack of access to reliable electricity supresses opportunities for education and income generating activities for families, and can undermine the ability of humanitarian organisations to deliver essential services. The critical role of energy became clear in 2020 as part of UN’s global COVID-19 Humanitarian Response.

Despite these clear issues and opportunities, access to sustainable energy has been overlooked or neglected within the humanitarian agenda because of a lack of expertise and funding, or a reluctance from host governments to authorize long-term infrastructure in ‘temporary’ settlements. Research into these issues was first conducted by the Moving Energy Initiative (2015-2020), which we seek to build upon.

Among other issues, the GPA framework document highlights the lack of data and empirical evidence as a major factor limiting the development and implementation of sustainable energy solutions in the context of humanitarian assistance. Where data does exist it is piecemeal and often not comparable, meaning that global tracking for SDG7 in situations of displacement is not currently possible.

Basin and/or Contextual Conditions: PHYSICAL: Ecosystem vulnerability or degradation, PHYSICAL: Inadequate infrastructure
Project Benefits: Basin stakeholder mapping, Raised awareness of challenges among water users, Raised awareness of challenges among local authorities
Indirect or Direct Beneficiaries: Ecosystems, Other utilities, Local communities / domestic users
Months & Implementing: More than 3 years
Financial Resources: More than $500,000 USD
Primary Funding Source: Pool funding (i.e., joint funding of several partners)
Challenges: Other

Project Narrative

Research for project development at the country level: market creation, business models and private sector partnerships In 2017, UDP conducted research in the Nyarugusu refugee camp in western Tanzania, to strengthen the case for diverting existing resources towards the financing of simple, known, tried-and-tested technical solutions to this problem, e.g. the roll-out of cleaner energy technologies at the household level. Similar research was carried out in Uganda in early 2018. This work also aimed to raise awareness of the dollar-value of these environmental and social ‘externalities’, to secure additional funding and/or create markets for the widespread roll-out of cleaner and safer energy technologies for displaced persons and host community members. Our research in Tanzania revealed the latent market demand for LPG among refugees, as a cleaner, safer and low-carbon option compared to the baseline scenario. This led to a 3.4m USD market creation plan and funding proposal submitted by the Global LPG Partnership in 2020, endorsed by UNHCR and the Government of Tanzania. The project aims to provide time-bound subsidies to supply 88,000 refugees and 40,000 host community members as a means to overcome the capital barriers to market entry. Recent work by Shell has highlighted and quantified the need and opportunities for private energy companies to access the largely untapped humanitarian market, serving both displaced persons and nearby host communities.

Partner Organizations


International Climate Initiative (IKI) is one of the most important instruments of the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) for the international financing of climate change mitigation and biodiversity. IKI operates within the framework … Learn More


   Loading Lessons