A Global Plan of Action - Background, Visions and Outcomes

Energy As a Priority Area for Humanitarian Response

‘Thriving, and not just surviving’ requires sustainable energy. Without energy, families cannot cook their food, heat and light their homes, or power their businesses. Communities cannot power their health centres, schools or public spaces. Currently humanitarian assistance relies heavily on fossil fuels to enable efficient and rapid delivery of essential services to the communities in need and for powering premises in remote locations.

The world is facing the highest level of displacement on record with 65.6 million people displaced by conflict or crisis (UNCHR, 2017). In addition, disasters displace three times more people than conflicts: an average of 26.4 million people per year have been displaced from their homes by disasters since 2008 (IDMC, 2017), a trend likely to continue with climate change.

Of the displaced people who are living in camp settings, around 90% are without electricity access and 80% rely on solid fuels for cooking. During humanitarian crises, access to safe, reliable, and clean energy for crisis-affected people can be difficult to achieve. With funding shortages and inadequate policies to support the humanitarian community in providing sustainable and clean energy, current energy practices are often inefficient, polluting, unsafe for the users, and harmful to the surrounding environment.

Considering energy needs during response can have a positive impact on aid efficiency on the mid- and longer term: by reducing expenses related to high costs of diesel fuel, more financial resources will be available to spend on protection and immediate assistance. In addition, the long-term health and environmental impacts of polluting fuel sources on displaced people, which reduce the resilience of communities and hamper progress, could be solved with the systematic deployment of renewable energy. Without access to sustainable energy the options for building programmes focused on self-reliance of communities and improving livelihoods are limited.

While it is challenging to integrate sustainable energy at the start of humanitarian programming, it is possible to a certain extent. Energy planning tools, technical guidelines, business models, and procedures already exist to support humanitarian assistance in delivering suitable energy. Working in partnership across humanitarian and development organisations is critical to delivering this.

Energy Enables

Sustainable energy is a key enabler which must be the heart of people-centred responses to displacement situations. The use of energy is a central part of all our day to day lives. Whether that is for boiling water, heating our homes, charging mobile phones, cooking food, or powering schools and offices: energy is at the heart of what we do. Access to sustainable energy is needed to deliver better health, education, and livelihood opportunities for both displaced people and host communities.

Energy enables but it is also essential while working in displacement settings: Many of the core pillars of the Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework are underpinned by energy:

(i) Reception and admission - electricity is required to power reception centres and during emergency responses. Sustainable energy products such as solar lamps are often included in the emergency provisions provided to displaced people during crises to enhance their quality of life.

(ii)    Support for immediate and ongoing needs – sustainable energy is needed for homes, schools, and businesses to enable people to live dignified and productive lives.

(iii)   Support for host countries and communities – sustainable energy services can reduce the environmental and resource burden on host governments and local communities. Energy services for camp settings can also be expended to host communities to support their national and regional development plans.

(iv)   Durable solutions – affordable electricity is necessary for businesses and access to sustainable energy enables livelihood opportunities. Activities around energy can be combined with training and capacity building to provide know how which can be used for a living after resettlement or repatriation.

 

The positive impacts of sustainable energy are measurable and quantifiable in terms of reducing costs, limiting carbon emissions, and providing jobs and livelihood opportunities. The Global Plan of Action aims to develop sustainable energy delivery further to support the needs of displaced people globally.