Rural energy profiles and the role of solar energy in climate change mitigation – a gendered perspective

abstract

Renewable energy options are widely promoted as a means to address the energy-development nexus in response to the need to mitigate the impacts of climate change. Pervasive gender and resource inequalities prevalent in Africa exacerbate current socio-economic and environmental pressures on groups that are considered to be extremely vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, for example, poor rural women. Thus, advancing issues such as energy provision becomes increasingly complex against the backdrop of abject poverty and escalating concerns in relation to the impacts of climate change. Several studies highlight the link between poverty, gender and energy and emphasise the need to adopt integrated and multi-disciplinary approaches to understand and monitor current challenges. However, few studies examine through a gendered lens the perceptions and knowledge of climate change and the potential mitigatory role of renewable energies such as solar energy. This study uses Bergville, a rural community in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, as a case study where 400 households were interviewed. There were discernible differences between men and women in relation to levels of energy poverty, energy mix and uses of energy sources. This study shows that there was a negligible difference in the awareness and perceptions of factors contributing to climate change amongst men and women. Moreover, although concepts such as climate change and solar energy were more familiar to the male counterparts, there was an overall limited understanding of climate change mitigation through the use of solar energy. The study highlights the need for mass education campaigns targeting women who are the main end users of energy to emphasise the advantages of using solar energy in the face of the disastrous impacts of climate change.

keywords:

• solar energy
• climate change
• gender
• rural
• energy poverty

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Suveshnee Munien

SUVESHNEE MUNIEN is a lecturer at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. Her research interests include rural development, energy studies, socio-ecological systems and the use of spatial tools in examining environmental issues. Email: [email protected]