Saturday May 5, 2018
By Megan Rowling
FILE - GETTY IMAGES
LISBON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Providing clean energy to
Somalis, including those uprooted from their homes in the conflict-torn
country, could both improve lives there and provide new opportunities
for entrepreneurs, the U.N. envoy to Somalia said.
Despite
persistent violence, Somalia is “slowly sorting its problems out”, with
efforts underway to rebuild the state, raise more tax revenue and
improve security, said Michael Keating, the highest United Nations
official in the Horn of Africa nation.
“That image of Somalia
that is dominated by bombs and hunger is really out of date,” Keating
said on the sidelines of a conference on energy access in Lisbon this
week. “The issue is: How can energy contribute to moving the country
forward?”
As the population grows, climate change and
environmental degradation are contributing to the “many problems” faced
by Somalis, who are competing for natural resources such as land, wood
and water, Keating said.
That, in turn, is fuelling tensions.
“People are drifting into cities where they can’t sustain themselves,” he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in an interview. Some
2.2 million people have been displaced from their homes inside Somalia,
and another 870,000 are registered as refugees in other countries,
according to U.N. figures.
Some have fled fighting, while others have been forced to abandon their farms due to drought.
But
the legacy of 25 years of civil war is not all bad, Keating noted. Left
with little functioning electricity infrastructure, Somalia has the
chance to leapfrog to a more nimble approach, using local grids powered
by renewable energy.
The need is pressing, with a report on
progress towards global energy goals this week showing only 30 percent
of Somalis had access to electricity in 2016, up from 20 percent in
2010.
Just 2 percent are able to use clean fuels for cooking,
with the rest resorting to dirtier forms of energy such as kerosene and
charcoal, which are damaging to health.
Keating has been talking
to the government about whether Somalia can “make itself into a clean
energy country”, drawing on solar, wind and hydropower from its two big
rivers, he said.
In 2014, 60 to 70 local energy providers banded
together to form a power generation, transmission and distribution
company called BECO, which is slowly shifting to solar energy, he noted.
BECO supplies 50 megawatts (MW) of power, operating in the capital Mogadishu and other cities including Afgooye and Kismayo.
The
company aims to boost its solar power generation capacity by 5.5 MW
annually, eventually reducing the share of power produced from fossil
fuels, mainly diesel, to less than 40 percent, according to the United
Nations.
DIGNITY
Other smaller enterprises, such as
Power OffGrid in Jowhar, are providing solar home systems, mini-grids
and solar equipment to run irrigation pumps for farmers and cold storage
for clinics and local businesses.
“Ironically, Somalia is a
great place to try and get things going,” said Keating. “However, people
are concerned about security and at a certain point, you do need more
government regulation.”
Few market restrictions are imposed on
businesses, but that can lead to overlapping provision in some places
and inconsistent standards, he noted.
U.N. agencies and other
development organizations can support Somalia’s push for clean energy
and universal access by bringing together government, business and
communities to chart a way forward, and providing information about what
has worked in similar environments, Keating said.
The
international community can also mobilize finance - but attracting
investment from the Somali diaspora around the world is key, he added.
For
Somalia’s large displaced population, many crammed into informal
settlements in the capital, gaining access to clean energy is a question
of “dignity” as well as safety, he said.
“It’s about
giving people who live in very tough circumstances the opportunity to
contribute to their own welfare, and make a living at the same time,” he
explained.
Reporting by Megan Rowling @meganrowling; editing by Laurie Goering.