Energy

This publication is a section of the WHH position paper on rural development.

A reliable energy supply is the basis of both economic and social development (e.g. for communications and health care). Even today, 1.6 billion people have no access to electricity supply. Rural development needs energy, although increasing energy consumption still entails increasing greenhouse gas emissions. The local use of renewable energy sources must therefore be the main option in overcoming energy shortages in the context of pro-poor green growth. It is the key for combining economic and social development with environmental protection goals. nevertheless, the cultivation of energy crops for export has so far brought more harm than good to poor populations in the countries of the south. The cultivation of energy plants is only legitimate if it can be proved to have no adverse consequences on the human right to food.