Sustainable new ideas

KENYA

The rocks tower steeply into the Kenyan sky. From the top you look into a green valley with lakes, fields and volcanoes. The Kenyan Rift Valley owes its beauty to the geological drifting apart of the African and Indian tectonic plates about 35 million years ago, leaving behind this unique landscape. Its unique attractions lure thousands of tourists to the northwest – for example to the alkaline lakes that offer a home to hundreds of thousands of flamingos.

The geology has also created treasures underground. Less than 1,000 metres beneath the surface you will find steam at a temperature of at least 200 degrees Celsius. Access it, and you can use it to drive turbines and produce clean electricity. This is why Germany is supporting the Kenyan government and private investors to promote this renewable energy source. On behalf of the Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, the KfW Development Bank is funding the construction of three major geothermal power stations. “The power plants will enable electricity to be generated in a way that is both economically efficient and ecologically responsible,” says Norbert Kloppenburg, Member of the Managing Board of the KfW banking group. The geothermal power plants will become important building blocks in Kenya’s energy supply. The additional energy thus gained will be a driver of sustainable development in the country. But what does sustainable development actually mean? According to the common definition it means acting in such a way that today’s growth does not call into question the natural resources and economic growth opportunities of future generations. It helps countries to help themselves without harming the climate or the environment. German development cooperation has been following this approach ever since sustainable development was internationally established as a global guiding principle at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro in 1992.

Energy is a prerequisite for development. Where people have energy they can cultivate their fields more intensively, refine products, launch businesses – in short, they can help themselves. A sustainable power supply has many facets. It must be permanently available to everyone, and it should be generated in a way that is climate-neutral. Reality often looks different, however. In Kenya, only about one in five households are connected to the power grid. And the demand for energy is growing faster than the country can expand its generating capacity. The grids often break down. Promoting the potential of geothermal energy is therefore an import­ant step forward.

ETHIOPIA

Sustainable energy need not come from the power socket. In Ethiopia, the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ), working on behalf of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), is involved in distributing modern cooking stoves. This is happening under the auspices of a German-Dutch-Norwegian energy partnership called Energising Development (EnDev), which aims to supply 6.1 million people in developing countries with energy by the end of 2012. Modern power stoves are a means to this end. Furthermore, they are urgently needed in Ethiopia, because most Ethiopians cook on open fires or use inefficient stoves. The toxic smoke kills many children and women – 1.6 million people worldwide every year, according to the World Health Organization’s estimates. Moreover, traditional cooking methods consume unnecessarily large amounts of fuel, which is gradually becoming scarce in many regions of Ethiopia.

Efficient cooking stoves, however, hardly smoke at all and use up to 60% less firewood. However, people in Ethiopia eat mostly injera, a soft, leavened bread. A stove specifically for making injera first had to be developed. But now the women have an efficient alternative: the round mirt stove, which is made of a cement ring and a metal or clay plate. But how can such custom-made stoves be distributed? The GIZ has chosen a market-based approach. “On the one hand, we explain to the population the benefits of efficient and more healthy stoves. On the other, we train women and men as professional stove producers,” says Inga Buchholz of EnDev. A thriving market for efficient cooking stoves has now emerged in the country. “630 stove producers have been trained since 2005, and they in turn have made efficient stoves for more than 310,000 people,” says Inga Buchholz.

NAMIBIA

The German-Namibian model project called Energy for Future shows how a good and clever idea can solve several problems at once. The idea for the initiative came from the Ulm-based cement manufacturer Schwenk, which also operates in Namibia. Livestock farmers in the northeast of Namibia have long been suffering from the uncontrollable spread of a certain species of acacia; it has been taking over pasture land, so that the animals can no longer find food. Attempts by farmers and the government to solve the problem with aggressive chemicals, large harvesting machines or by hand have failed. More than 26 million hectares of grazing land are now affected. This development is threatening the livelihoods of many livestock farmers in the northeast of the country.

Energy for Future regards the scrubland as a welcome source of energy. To harvest it, Schwenk uses specially developed chaff-cutter machines, which move like a snow cat on caterpillar tracks. The project staff spent many months trying out how best to remove the bush without damaging other flora and fauna. “Instead of removing the plant together with all its roots, the chaff-cutter only chops the bushes off above the ground, the idea being to counter erosion. Furthermore, the machines do not chop everything up into small pieces, but leave trees and enough vegetation standing, so that animals have places to hide and biodiversity is preserved,” says Anne-Katrin Pfeiffer, consultant from the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) responsible for Namibia. After an intensive pilot phase, the project is now to be implemented: the cement plant will be fuelled with wood chips. “In future the investment will save the cement works up to 55,000 tonnes of coal per annum and with it about 130,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions,” Anne-Katrin Pfeiffer explains. The BMZ is supporting the interesting project with an interest-subsidized loan totalling about 12 million euros.

PERU

Collaboration between development policy and business also makes sense in other development areas – for example, water supply. In theory the Earth has enough fresh water, but it is not evenly distributed regionally. Almost one in six people on Earth have no access to clean drinking water. The growing population, on the one hand, and the inefficient use of resources and climate change, on the other, are exacerbating the water crisis in many regions. But how can water consumption be reduced, water quality improved and resources better protected?

It is hoped that some answers will come from a strategic partnership in Peru, which has been forged on behalf of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) between the world’s second-largest beer producer, SAB Miller, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ). The SAB Miller brewery has succeeded in reducing its water consumption in Peru by 7% over the past two years. However, the beverage manufacturer knows it can only secure its water needs if it also starts protecting resources outside its own breweries in tandem with other local stakeholders and consumers. “In Lima, for example, all consumers are dependent on the same, rapidly dwindling resources. To this extent they have a common interest in their protection,” says Robin Farrington of the GIZ. The members of the strategic partnership are therefore analyzing the local water risks and registering the different user groups, in order to subsequently develop action plans together. “With our partnership we are pursuing innovative approaches – together with businesses, the government and civil society – to reduce risks shared by all water users. Our example is now catching on. This way, everyone benefits,” says Robin Farrington. The Water Futures Partnership in Peru is currently forging an alliance of companies that will finance concrete measures to protect water resources together with the public sector.

VIETNAM

Forests are extremely important for protecting water resources, and the people responsible in Vietnam are very aware of this. The Vietnamese government has therefore set itself the target of reforesting 40% of the country by 2015. Although resource and climate protection play an important role in this context, the government’s main objective is to alleviate poverty. Especially on poor soils, active forest management can create permanent jobs and income. Vietnam and Germany have been working together in reforestation since the 1990s, and they are breaking new ground in the process. Anyone who reforests their own or leased land receives not only the seedlings they need, but also a “green savings account” worth up to 250 dollars of credit per hectare of reforested land.

The Hong family’s savings amounted to a princely 600 dollars in 2002. “Because forestry involves a lot of work – but generates no income – in the early years, this has helped us get through this difficult time,” says Mr. Hong. So in order to be able to withdraw money, Mr. Hong had to prove that he had carried out the necessary work. In just ten years, the value of the forest has increased twenty-fold; the family can live on the revenue and enjoy a little prosperity. Hong’s family is one of about 100,000 in Vietnam that are benefiting from reforestation. The KfW Development Bank has invested 70 million euros on behalf of the BMZ. The money was used to reclaim 130,000 hectares of forest land. “Every euro absorbs about half a tonne of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere over the years,” says Hubertus Kraienhorst, forestry expert at KfW. And every euro creates a permanent income for small farmers and their families.

These five projects are just a small selection from the large number of projects promoted by German development cooperation. Whether they achieve their goal of sustainability depends not only on the idea or on people’s staying power. Rather, the framework conditions have to be right. Modern technologies are only sustainable where there is sufficient expertise or a knowledge strategy. That is exactly what the BMZ is trying to achieve. Any change requires political will, which can pave the way for private initiatives with the help of laws. Quite often, new ideas question old vested interests that block changes. They must prove that they are better and – in the best-case scenario – ultimately sustainable. ▪