Energy Access in Displacement Settings

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Overview

The number of people forced to leave their country and live as refugees, due to war and persecution, is really high. The total number of refugees in 2013 has even exceeded the total number of refugees after World War II and is continuously rising. [1]In 2014, UNHCR estimated that there are around 59.5 million displaced people worldwide.[2]


This article aims to explore the situation of energy access among refugees campbs by consolidating the information from different publications.

We invite you to edit this article and enrich it with your valuable contributions. Please feel free to include a new publication, your personal experience as well as other information in this article.


Financial implications of energy use in refugee camps

According to an assessment by the Women's Refugee Comission (WRC) in 2005, in humanitarian setting, refugees are provided with food, shelter but rarely with cooking energy. Energy access for refugees is a basic humanitarian need but has been mostly ignored / undermined. A recent study by Chatham House shows that there is a great potential to uplift the energy access situation in refugee camps.

The need for energy in refugee camps is classified into energy for cooking and electricity need.


Environmental Degration

According to a report by Chatham House, 80% of the 8.7 million refugees and displaced persons in camps worldwide rely on traditional biomass for cooking and have no access to electricity.  They rely mostly on forest nearby the camps for firewood. As a result, 64,700 hectares of forest are cleared and burned every year in areas near refugees camps. [3]


Similarly, burning traditional biomass for cooking is one of the major cause of indoor air pollution. The WHO estimates that around 2 million people die each year from diseases caused by indoor air pollution.[4]


Gender based violence (GBV)

In most of the refugees camps, women and children are mostly responsible for collecting firewood and in many cases ,they travel up to 20 km into unsafte areas to collect firewood. This rises the sexual assault and robbery of the women and children while collecting firewood , by the men from the host community. In most cases, the women and children, do not report the sexual assault as they are afraid of social stigma as well as further persecution by the police and the local security authority. [4]

Publications

Publications dealing with the issue of energy access for refugees :


To add further publications, simply edit this section.

Further Information

Cooking Energy in Refugee Situations - article on energypedia

Reference

  1. ↑ Global refugee figures highest since WW2, UN says. (2014, June 20). Retrieved December 9, 2015, from http://www.bbc.com/news/world-27921938
  2. ↑ Worldwide displacement hits all-time high as war and persecution increase. (2015). Retrieved December 5, 2015, from http://www.unhcr.org/558193896.html
  3. ↑ Lahn, G., & Grafham, O. (2015). Heat, Light and Power for Refugees Saving Lives, Reducing Costs. Chatham House Report for the Moving Energy Initiative. http://bit.ly/1l6cCEk
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Safe Access to Fuel and Energy (SAFE) in Nyarugusu, Tanzania: A Rapid Assessment Report. (2014).
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