Energy affordability, prerequisite for economic growth --Expert

Prof. Olalekan Akinbo of the African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD) says access to affordable energy is essential for people living without electricity and a prerequisite for economic growth.

Akinbo said this in a telephone interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday.

He said advancement and application of research were needed to find new environmentally friendly and socially sustainable technology that would meet the energy needs of developing countries.

The supervisor at the Center of Excellence in STI said that people living without access to adequate fresh water or whose health and livelihood were endangered by environmental degradation called for the development of new technologies.

Akinbo emphasized that this should go along with appropriate policy frameworks in order to mitigate these problems and their effects on poor people.

“Timely local adoption often requires significant indigenous technological capacity."

“Modern clean, renewable energy technologies like solar, wind, and modern biomass need to be developed further," he said.

The AU expert added that there was also a need for an increase in the efficiency and sustainability of energy use in transportation, industry, and housing.

Responding to questions on the role of science and technology in water supply, he said water was another vital but scarce resource.

He said that in the absence of technological innovation, current and projected water use patterns could only lead to severe crises.

“Today, about 1.3 billion people lack access to an adequate supply of safe water; two billion people lack access to adequate sanitation; and water pollution causes millions of preventable deaths each year, especially among children.

“Water pollution is expected to continue to degrade freshwater and marine ecosystems, with a significant loss of biodiversity.

“The challenge is to leverage new technologies to provide an adequate supply of safe water in urban and rural areas to all users in a growing wealthy population’’, he said.

In the area of applying STI in environmental management, Akinbo decried that environmental degradation at the local, regional, and global scale adversely affected the livelihoods, health, and vulnerability of poor people.

Akinbo said local issues included indoor and outdoor air pollution and water pollution, while regional issues included acid deposition.

He further said that global issues included climate change, stratospheric ozone depletion, loss of biological diversity, land degradation, and desertification.

Akinbo said that these changes in the environment adversely affected the incomes of poor people who depend on natural resources for their livelihood.

He said these changes also adversely affected human health through air and water pollution and an increase in exposure to vector-borne diseases such as malaria and dengue.

The expert said that environmental degradation was a threat to poverty alleviation and long-term sustainable development.

“The key challenge is to recognize that local, regional, and global environmental issues are inextricably linked and affect sustainable development.

“Therefore, there are synergetic opportunities to develop more effective response options to these environmental issues that enhance benefits, reduce cost, and more sustainably meet human needs.

“The capacity of countries to adapt and mitigate can be enhanced when environmental policies are integrated with national development policies,’’ he said.