Dear colleagues and friends,
As world leaders enter into final negotiations ahead of the Copenhagen climate talks, three billion people, almost half of humanity, still rely on solid fuels – which means traditional biomass and coal - because they don’t have access to modern energy services. Almost a quarter of the global population —1.5 billion people— lives without electricity, 80 percent of them in the least developed countries (LDCs) of South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. That’s according to figures from a new UNDP/WHO report that shines a light on the plight of the three billion people without access to modern energy services.
The report entitled "The Energy Access Situation in Developing Countries, A Review Focusing on the Least Developed Countries and Sub-Saharan Africa", now available at www.undp.org/energy, was produced in partnership by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the World Health Organization (WHO), with support from the International Energy Agency (IEA).
According to the report, to halve the proportion of people living in poverty by 2015 —the first of eight, internationally agreed Millennium Development Goals— 1.2 billion more people will need access to electricity and about two billion more people will need access to modern fuels like natural gas or Liquefied Petroleum Gas.
Two million people die every year from causes associated with exposure to smoke from cooking with biomass and coal—and 99 percent of those deaths occur in developing countries. In LDCs and sub-Saharan Africa, half of all deaths from pneumonia in children under five years, chronic lung disease and lung cancer in adults --are attributed to the use of solid fuel use, compared with 38 percent in developing countries overall.
Additional to the report, a one page brief and a powerpoint presentation on the report can be downloaded from www.undp.org/energy
Many thanks and regards,
Sarwat Chowdhury, PhD
Consultant on Access to Sustainable Energy for the Poor
Sustainable Energy Programme
Environment and Energy Group
Bureau for Development Policy
UNDP, NY
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