Post by account_disabled on Mar 7, 2024 3:38:30 GMT
Aware of the growing climate crisis and to improve refugees' access to safe and sustainable energy, as well as minimize its own environmental impact, the UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR, has presented a Global Strategy for Sustainable Energy of four years.
The strategy promotes the transition towards clean and renewable energy in refugee camps and reception spaces, including private homes, community spaces and support facilities.
“There is no doubt that climate change is being a Chile Mobile Number List contributing factor to the underlying causes of conflict and displacement. From droughts and famines to increasingly frequent extreme weather conditions, the effects of climate change are being experienced most acutely by the most vulnerable and marginalized people in the world, including refugees and their host communities,” he explains. Andrew Harper, UNHCR Director of Program Support and Management.
According to recent estimates, more than 90% of refugees living in camps have limited access to electricity, making it difficult for them to cook, keep warm, study, work or find their way at night, in addition to exposing them to various risks from a distance. point of view of health and protection. Without clean energy, many refugees need to use firewood and charcoal to cover their urgent domestic needs, while community spaces and support facilities generally have diesel generators. All these energy sources have a very high economic and environmental cost.
“Climate change is not only a cause of displacement that forces many people to leave their homes, but it also causes the majority of those displaced to end up arriving in some of the most vulnerable areas of the world,” says Andrew Harper.
“This poses significant challenges, both humanitarian and environmental. We need to ensure that those forcibly displaced can meet their basic energy needs while in exile, while minimizing environmental degradation and protecting the livelihoods of host communities.”
UNHCR has been working for decades to reduce the environmental impact of refugee crises. Some of the notable initiatives are the installation of solar parks in the Azraq and Zaatari refugee camps in Jordan, the distribution of clean cooking fuel in Niger, clean fuel and a waste treatment plant for refugees in Bangladesh, and renewable energy and clean cooking solutions for refugees in Rwanda, Tanzania and Ethiopia.
The Shire Alliance works precisely in Ethiopia , the first multi-stakeholder alliance for humanitarian action in Spain in which five entities from the public, private and academic sectors participate, in collaboration with UNHCR, with the aim of improving access to energy services and quality of life of refugee populations in the camps in the Shire region, in the north of the country. The Alliance launched a pilot project in the Adi-Harush camp that involved four kilometers of lighting and the connection to the electrical grid of various services, including several markets, community kitchens and a school. The Alliance is now working in the Shimelba, Hitsats, Mai-Aini and Adi-Harush camps, benefiting the refugee and local community, extending access to the electricity grid, installing off-grid photovoltaic systems and street lighting, and designing business models. joints between both communities.
UNHCR has also been a pioneer in implementing modern and innovative land restoration projects, such as the “Green Refugee Camp” in Cameroon, which enabled the reforestation of more than 100 hectares of severely degraded land in the refugee camp of Minawao and its surroundings, as well as the creation of 175 jobs in the area. The project was selected as an example of Global Best Practices during this year's United Nations General Assembly Sustainable Development Goals summit for its contribution to achieving the SDGs.
UNHCR's new Sustainable Energy Strategy builds on recent initiatives to mainstream sustainable energy access and minimize environmental impact in UNHCR field operations around the world.
The strategy focuses on four main areas: ensuring that refugees have their basic energy needs met from the onset of an emergency; improve refugees' access to clean, affordable energy for cooking; improve families' sustainable access to electricity so they can heat and light their homes; and ensure that clean energy is available for the operation of community centers and supporting infrastructure such as central water supply systems, public lighting, schools and health centers.
To implement the strategy, UNHCR will promote and facilitate refugee and displaced populations' access to clean energy, working closely with energy providers to promote connection to national electricity grids, as well as decentralized mini-grid systems with renewable energy. that allow supporting both refugee and host communities in the area.
Leading partners such as the IKEA Foundation, the Netherlands National Lottery, and the governments of Denmark, Germany, Japan, Norway, Sweden, the Netherlands and the United States have been instrumental in enabling UNHCR to expand its environmental and energy initiatives in its operations throughout the world.
To finance and provide sustainable energy to those who need it, more alliances, support and joint efforts between humanitarian, development and private sector actors will be necessary.
The Global Compact on Refugees calls for increased investment in renewable energy in host countries to ensure refugees' access to fuel and energy. It also promotes integrated and sustainable management of natural resources and ecosystems within or around urban and rural areas hosting refugees.
The strategy promotes the transition towards clean and renewable energy in refugee camps and reception spaces, including private homes, community spaces and support facilities.
“There is no doubt that climate change is being a Chile Mobile Number List contributing factor to the underlying causes of conflict and displacement. From droughts and famines to increasingly frequent extreme weather conditions, the effects of climate change are being experienced most acutely by the most vulnerable and marginalized people in the world, including refugees and their host communities,” he explains. Andrew Harper, UNHCR Director of Program Support and Management.
According to recent estimates, more than 90% of refugees living in camps have limited access to electricity, making it difficult for them to cook, keep warm, study, work or find their way at night, in addition to exposing them to various risks from a distance. point of view of health and protection. Without clean energy, many refugees need to use firewood and charcoal to cover their urgent domestic needs, while community spaces and support facilities generally have diesel generators. All these energy sources have a very high economic and environmental cost.
“Climate change is not only a cause of displacement that forces many people to leave their homes, but it also causes the majority of those displaced to end up arriving in some of the most vulnerable areas of the world,” says Andrew Harper.
“This poses significant challenges, both humanitarian and environmental. We need to ensure that those forcibly displaced can meet their basic energy needs while in exile, while minimizing environmental degradation and protecting the livelihoods of host communities.”
UNHCR has been working for decades to reduce the environmental impact of refugee crises. Some of the notable initiatives are the installation of solar parks in the Azraq and Zaatari refugee camps in Jordan, the distribution of clean cooking fuel in Niger, clean fuel and a waste treatment plant for refugees in Bangladesh, and renewable energy and clean cooking solutions for refugees in Rwanda, Tanzania and Ethiopia.
The Shire Alliance works precisely in Ethiopia , the first multi-stakeholder alliance for humanitarian action in Spain in which five entities from the public, private and academic sectors participate, in collaboration with UNHCR, with the aim of improving access to energy services and quality of life of refugee populations in the camps in the Shire region, in the north of the country. The Alliance launched a pilot project in the Adi-Harush camp that involved four kilometers of lighting and the connection to the electrical grid of various services, including several markets, community kitchens and a school. The Alliance is now working in the Shimelba, Hitsats, Mai-Aini and Adi-Harush camps, benefiting the refugee and local community, extending access to the electricity grid, installing off-grid photovoltaic systems and street lighting, and designing business models. joints between both communities.
UNHCR has also been a pioneer in implementing modern and innovative land restoration projects, such as the “Green Refugee Camp” in Cameroon, which enabled the reforestation of more than 100 hectares of severely degraded land in the refugee camp of Minawao and its surroundings, as well as the creation of 175 jobs in the area. The project was selected as an example of Global Best Practices during this year's United Nations General Assembly Sustainable Development Goals summit for its contribution to achieving the SDGs.
UNHCR's new Sustainable Energy Strategy builds on recent initiatives to mainstream sustainable energy access and minimize environmental impact in UNHCR field operations around the world.
The strategy focuses on four main areas: ensuring that refugees have their basic energy needs met from the onset of an emergency; improve refugees' access to clean, affordable energy for cooking; improve families' sustainable access to electricity so they can heat and light their homes; and ensure that clean energy is available for the operation of community centers and supporting infrastructure such as central water supply systems, public lighting, schools and health centers.
To implement the strategy, UNHCR will promote and facilitate refugee and displaced populations' access to clean energy, working closely with energy providers to promote connection to national electricity grids, as well as decentralized mini-grid systems with renewable energy. that allow supporting both refugee and host communities in the area.
Leading partners such as the IKEA Foundation, the Netherlands National Lottery, and the governments of Denmark, Germany, Japan, Norway, Sweden, the Netherlands and the United States have been instrumental in enabling UNHCR to expand its environmental and energy initiatives in its operations throughout the world.
To finance and provide sustainable energy to those who need it, more alliances, support and joint efforts between humanitarian, development and private sector actors will be necessary.
The Global Compact on Refugees calls for increased investment in renewable energy in host countries to ensure refugees' access to fuel and energy. It also promotes integrated and sustainable management of natural resources and ecosystems within or around urban and rural areas hosting refugees.