Access to affordable power and where it comes from is one of the world’s key global issues and challenges to solve. Politicians and economists debate trade-offs between economic activity, coal-generated power and renewable energy sources. Climate change scientists, NGOs and activists debate and protest themes such as global warming, deforestation and big business. But the voices of the most vulnerable are seldom heard. Energy justice seeks to improve social and economic equity in global and national energy systems, by better hearing and understanding the voices, needs and livelihoods of the poor and marginalized who through climate change, often bear the burden of the past century’s energy systems and decision-making.
These images seek to highlight the challenge of Malawi’s rural population, who live in the least electrified country in Southern Africa. This story was also published on the Social Documentary Network site at: https://socialdocumentary.net/exhibit/Paul_Scherzer/6363
A rural women in Malawi finishes feeding her children. She relies on fuel wood for power, as do most rural Malawians. Powerless to alter global climate change impacts or policy, with little ability to influence national grid and energy planning systems, or the ability to pay much for power, she will continue to pay in effort and risk, by walking further each day in her struggle to collect the fuelwood needed to prepare dinner for her family.Malawi is one of the least electrified countries globally, with only 4% of the rural population being connected to the power grid. The collection of firewood for cooking is a daily challenge for rural women who are having to walk further each week to harvest wood. Women can walk 6 to 10 km a trip, reducing their productive time available for other activities and increasing their risk of GBV and other harm.In areas where there are few economic opportunities for men, harvesting wood to sell in town or to make charcoal is often their opportunity to earn an income.
As pressure on forested areas increases, community members need to walk further up deforested slopes to reach suitable trees.A man rests out of view on his journey back from harvest. He will sell this load for $7.80 in town and return again the next day. Also affected by current global economic challenges, many local Malawians are starting to find they can only afford wood as it is cheaper that charcoal. Wood does not last as long though, further increasing the pressure on natural resources.Wood is turned into charcoal and sold in towns and alongside the streets and roads. It is a business opportunity that completes for wood with rural women who need fuel for home use. Older mature trees are targeted as they make better quality charcoal than younger trees, making sustainable harvesting options more challenging.Deforestation leaves soils bare, increasing erosion and other environmental challenges. These all contribute to increasing the burden on the livelihoods of the rural poor.The Shire River runs through the Lower Shire Valley after having passed through several hydropower schemes. Malawi’s national grid power supply is predominately supplied by hydropower schemes. Over reliance on hydropower increases the vulnerability of the country to the effects of global climate change, predicted to decrease the generation capacity of the existing schemes. A drought in December 2017 lead to a national blackout.
