World leaders launch global solar campaign.

The population of this already crowded planet is expected to swell by some 50 per cent over the next 35 years. Already, about 400 million homes do not have electricity, accounting for more than 40 per cent of the world's population. And according to estimates of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, by the end of this century, 2.4 billion people will be either unable to obtain their minimum energy requirements or forced to consume wood faster than it can be replaced. The global fuelwood deficit is expected by then to reach almost 1 billion cubic metres per year.

Against this backdrop, the World Solar Summit ended in Harare, Zimbabwe, on 17 September, with Heads of State and Government representing 18 nations and some 1,000 delegates from over 100 developing and industrialized countries adopting by acclamation the Harare Declaration on Solar Energy and Sustainable Development. They also launched the World Solar Programme 1996-2005.

The Declaration, which calls on nations to join in the development and implementation of the World Solar Programme, considers cheap, clean, renewable energy "essential" in improving the quality of life and in creating income-generating activities. In it, the world leaders recognized "that there is a need to increase substantially access to energy in developing countries, and that the provision of adequate energy services can improve living conditions, alleviate poverty, improve health and education, promote small-scale enterprises and create other income-generating activities especially in rural and isolated areas, thereby reducing rural to urban migration".

The 10-year campaign includes an initial list of 300 top-priority renewable energy projects in more than 60 different countries. The Programme further calls for a global information and communication network to promote training and research. It will highlight successful grassroots initiatives and advocate ecologically sustainable energy use.

The World Solar Summit itself culminated a three-year preparatory process initiated by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to help promote research, education, public awareness, marketing and job creation in all fields of renewable energy. These included solar power schools in rural Georgia, a solar water desalination plant for the Gaza Strip to be implemented by the Palestinian Authority, along with energy self-sufficient homes, farms and villages in Pakistan, Yugoslavia, the Russian Federation and other countries.

The World Solar Programme will be carried out through existing ministries and institutions financed by private and public sources. Major partners include the European Commission, UNESCO, the United Nations Industrial Development Organization, the International Energy Agency, the International Solar Energy Society, the United Nations Development Programme, the World Health Organization and the World Meteorological Organization.

President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, who hosted the two-day Summit and also chairs the World Solar Commission, called the adoption of the Declaration and Programme "a momentous decision". His appeal for broader support was echoed as well by other participants. Irish Minister Emmet Stagg, President of the Council of Energy Ministers of the European Union, said the Summit and the World Solar Programme are vital "to address the barriers, and ensure the effective development of appropriate energy infrastructures for the future".

New Initiatives, New Partnerships

The World Solar Summit is already producing new renewable energy initiatives. President Benjamin Mkapa of the United Republic of Tanzania announced that his country would set up an investment fund and tax incentives on the use and production of solar energy systems. President Yasser Arafat of the Palestinian Authority announced the launch of a new initiative to build a solar energy power system, the largest renewable energy project in the Middle East. Zimbabwe announced a $38-million investment in three new projects, including one to revamp curricula ranging from primary to higher education to include the use and manufacture of solar technologies.

Japan called for a "new global partnership in which developing and developed countries share responsibility and cooperate for development".

Robert Priddle, Executive Director of the International Energy Agency urged Governments to remove political barriers that restrict the introduction of new forms of energy "Those with the vision to liberalize energy markets and open up to outside investment could create exciting opportunities", he said. "New markets plus new technologies mean new industries - the energy industries of the 21st century."

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The Sun Shines on Rural Health Care

Health and energy are interdependent factors which largely determine the progress of rural development. The 38 countries in the world with the highest under-five mortality rates also have the highest proportion of rural populations (73 per cent), and the combined rural populations of developing countries will exceed 500 million by the end of the decade. An energy strategy for rural areas will be critical in achieving lasting health improvements.

Health interventions, especially primary health care services, have been shown in recent decades to greatly improve child survival, enhance educational performance and increase agricultural productivity. At the same time, primary health care facilities and clinics require only very limited amounts of energy to operate. Developing a reliable and affordable source of energy that is well suited to meeting the low demand of their activities remains a challenge, but the World Health Organization believes solar energy can play an important role in improving health energy infrastructure if integrated with a broader array of end uses.

There are currently two main applications of solar energy which directly support health care activities in developing countries - vaccine refrigeration and, to a lesser extent, lighting of health care centres. The technology of photovoltaic refrigerators is mature and fully commercialized, with more than 5,000 now in use worldwide, the majority of them in African countries. Among the most active countries:

* As of 1993, all 54 health centres in the Gambia had replaced gas and kerosene refrigerators with solar units, and some centres had also been equipped with solar lighting systems and water heaters.

* In Zaire, solar refrigerators represented 50 per cent of the vaccine refrigerators used in some provinces, and almost 38 per cent of all vaccine refrigerators country-wide.

* In Uganda, about 17 per cent of all vaccine refrigerators were solar-powered.

* In Kenya, only a fraction of the 1,500 rural health clinics were using solar refrigerators until 1991, when a severe gas shortage disrupted the fuel supply for gas-powered units and shut down immunization services in seven districts of the country. Since then, the Kenyan Government has been expanding its solar cold chain as well.

* More recently, countries such as Peru (300 solar refrigeration systems), Indonesia (400), Zambia (250), Eritrea (200), and Myanmar (200) have also come to rely on solar power for their vaccine cold chains.