Aid

Cutting energy waste in humanitarian work is not just a matter of economics.

Cutting energy waste in humanitarian work is not just a matter of economics. Accessible and affordable energy is not a new challenge for populations of humanitarian concern. It would also save costs for aid agencies who, according to the same report, spent $1.6 billion in 2020 for providing basic cooking and lighting energy which, on the business-as-usual scenario, will rise to $5.3 billion by 2030. According to a 2016 paper published by the European Institute of Business Administration, their fleet of more than 100,000 vehicles incurs running costs of over $1 billion annually. The potential solution lies in building on informal energy markets that already exist in humanitarian settings. As a woman requires about 2,000 calories a day to keep going, this is literally a body-wasting endeavour for those with marginal nutritional status at the best of times. However, the reality is that they persist for decades. A study in Nepal revealed that refugees there have between 10 and 17-fold higher respiratory infections than normal, and the WHO estimates that an additional 20,000 displaced people are killed globally by indoor pollution. According to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation, 80 per cent of vulnerable people depend on firewood and charcoal as their main energy source with an average per capita daily requirement of about 1.7 kilograms. The task usually falls to women and children who may walk six hours to gather a family-size load of dry wood. Humanitarian agencies provide relief but that includes only 10-20 per cent of the energy needed to utilise the given aid effectively, say researchers. There are also the images of fire ripping through a [Rohingya refugee](https://www.thenationalnews.com/weekend/2023/03/10/rohingya-refugees-are-being-forced-to-suffer-even-more/) camp or the displaced Darfuri woman assaulted while collecting firewood as her infant wheezes in their smoky shelter.