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Linkages and synergies between

energy access and food security

at household level

SIANI Expert Group

Caroline Ochieng, PhD

Research Fellow, Stockholm Environment Institute

SIANI Annual Meeting

January 21, 2015

Expert group goal

To bring to public attention the unexplored links between energy access and food security; and to identify research, policy and implementation gapsFocus

areas of the expert

group

Food production

Example: Joint Food-Energy

production systems

Food Processing

Example: Food wastes used in agroprocessing

Food Utiliastion

Example: Energy efficient wood stoves

that also produce biochar for boosting

farm productivity

Sweden/

Europe

Stockholm Environment Institute

SLU – Crop Production Ecology

SLU Cassava Initiative

Swedish Church

Africa ICRAF, Kenya

Practical Action, Kenya

LUANAR, University of Malawi

Kumasi Institute of Technology & Environment (Ghana)

Global Kande Yumkellah

SE4All

FAO regional office for Africa

Membership

Activites

• Consolidate information on synergies and links between energy access and food security – literature review

• Bring to public attention the unexplored links between energy access and food security – workshops, publications

• Facilitate on the ground knowledge exchange and capacity building – Exchange visits

• Suggest areas for future interdisciplinary research –research proposals, expert advice to funding calls

Motivation: Energy access in situation in sub-

Saharan Africa

http://www.who.int/indoorair/publications/PowerPoint_Energy_Access_paper-lr.pdf

Global/regional

Local harvesting

Household use

SafetyDrudgery

Time useHealth

Personal security

Deforestation

Reduced education of children

Time use of women

Tropospheric ozone

Climate change

Outdoor particle pollution

Glacier melting

Documented impacts

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Missing link: energy access and food

security

Food security exists “when all people

at all times have access to sufficient,

safe, nutritious food to maintain a

healthy and active life” World Food

Summit, 1996

Key components

Storage: Food wastes and food poisoning

Processing: Long walks and long queues

Utilisation: cooking smoke and ill-health

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Activity 1: Review of impacts of energy access on

household food security and nutrition

Phosiso Sola (CIFOR) Muyuki Iliyama (ICRAF)

Caroline Ochieng (SEI) Jummai Yila (AFF)

Hypotheses

• Dietary choices and cooking practices are influenced by access to energy

• Poor access to cooking fuel leads to reallocation of household resources, either time or money, to procurement of fuel rather than food

• Lack of energy impacts of productivity e.g. through switch to agricultural residues, making them unavailable for agriculture

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Methodology – systemmatic review

Article search and screening• Web of Science, Scopus, Google scholar

• Title and abstract screening -170

• Full text 127

Criteria for selection• Focus on SSA and energy (all forms)

• Link to energy /food security/nutrition and

gender and or Livelihoods

• All articles; whether published as journals or

project reports.

Articles selected for review

• Picture?

Key findings

• Very few studies addressed both energy access and food security. Only one food and nutrition study addressed energy access.

• Results inconclusive due to few studies, and only one clearly addressed the link between fuel availability and household food choices.

• But ...several studies show that people adjust livelihoods to cope with fuelwood scarcity ...in ways that have been shown to impact on food security

Conclusion and

Recommendations • “Clearly, there is a strong argument in favour of further

research [on food-fuel connection], not to settle an academic question, but rather to help define directions for future action both in terms of increasing fuelwoodproduction and improving nutrition” – FAO, 1990.

• Prevailing uncertainty needs to be urgently addressed; it leads to assumptions that there is no link between energy access and food security, and missed opportunity for addressing the goals jointly.

• Lack of evidence should be interprated as lack of research; not lack of association

Next steps

Literature reviews

• Publication: Links between energy access and food security in sub Saharan Africa: An exploratory review, led by CIFOR - January 30, 2015

• Publication of policy brief on Opportunities for joint food and energy production in Malawi – January 30, 2015

• Review on waste recycling to maximize energy and food output, led by SLU – Ongoing; February 28, 2015

Meetings

• Breakfast dialogues with policy makers/stakeholders (Malawi, Kenya, Stockholm) – March 30, 2015

• Stakeholder workshop – April 30, 2015

Research proposals

• Ongoing

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Thank You

http://www.siani.se/expert-groups/food-security-and-energy-access