Gender Equality and Social Inclusion Assessment of the Energy Sector: Enhancing Social Sustainability of Energy Development in Nepal

By Asian Development Bank

In Nepal, deeply embedded structural conditions determined by gender, caste or ethnicity, religion, language, and even geography have made access to and benefits from energy resources highly uneven. Women, the poor, and excluded groups experience energy poverty more severely. To address this imbalance, the government and other stakeholders have introduced measures to achieve greater gender equality and social inclusion. This study is an attempt to understand the factors affecting the outcomes and extent to which the initiatives have fostered gender equality and social inclusion. The study recommends measures to facilitate the distributive impact of energy sector development if Nepal is to meet its target of ensuring energy access to all.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Asian Development Bank
• Release date: Feb 1, 2018
• ISBN: 9789292610890

Book preview

GENDER EQUALITY AND SOCIAL INCLUSION ASSESSMENT OF THE ENERGY SECTOR

ENHANCING SOCIAL SUSTAINABILITY OF ENERGY DEVELOPMENT IN NEPAL

February 2018

Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 IGO license (CC BY 3.0 IGO)

© 2018 Asian Development Bank

6 ADB Avenue, Mandaluyong City, 1550 Metro Manila, Philippines

Tel [phone]; Fax [phone]

www.adb.org

Some rights reserved. Published in 2018.

ISBN 978-92-9261-088-3 (print), 978-92-9261-089-0 (electronic)

Publication Stock No. TCS179164-2

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.22617/TCS179164-2

The views expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) or its Board of Governors or the governments they represent.

ADB does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this publication and accepts no responsibility for any consequence of their use. The mention of specific companies or products of manufacturers does not imply that they are endorsed or recommended by ADB in preference to others of a similar nature that are not mentioned.

By making any designation of or reference to a particular territory or geographic area, or by using the term country in this document, ADB does not intend to make any judgments as to the legal or other status of any territory or area.

This work is available under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 IGO license (CC BY 3.0 IGO) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo/. By using the content of this publication, you agree to be bound by the terms of this license. For attribution, translations, adaptations, and permissions, please read the provisions and terms of use at https://www.adb.org/terms-use#openaccess.

This CC license does not apply to non-ADB copyright materials in this publication. If the material is attributed to another source, please contact the copyright owner or publisher of that source for permission to reproduce it. ADB cannot be held liable for any claims that arise as a result of your use of the material.

Please contact [e-mail] if you have questions or comments with respect to content, or if you wish to obtain copyright permission for your intended use that does not fall within these terms, or for permission to use the ADB logo.

Notes:

In this publication, $ refers to US dollars, and NRs refers to Nepalese rupees.

Corrigenda to ADB publications may be found at http://www.adb.org/publications/corrigenda.

Contents

Tables, Figures, Boxes, and Map

Acknowledgments

A team from Social Science Baha, a research organization based in Kathmandu, led the finalization of the report, working on initial data collected with financial support from the World Bank. Deepak Thapa, director of Social Science Baha, led the research for both the previous and current assignments, while Nabin Rawal, Ang Sanu Lama, Rekha Shreesh, Prakriti Thami, Ojeswee Pande, and Mohan Bista provided research support. Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) consultants Chhaya Jha and Prahlad Ghimire conducted the GESI analysis of energy-related institutions and provided overall support in peer-reviewing succeeding drafts of the report. Bandita Sijapati, then-researcher at Social Science Baha, conceptualized the study design and steered the final drafting of the report. Most of the fieldwork was conducted in 2014. Information related to policy, institutional framework, and specific projects are as of end 2016.

Abbreviations

1

Introduction

There is a considerable energy divide in the world—between rich and poor countries; within countries, with the rich benefiting the most from energy resources; between urban and rural areas; and within households.¹ Addressing these gaps has become crucial, especially since the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goal 7 (ensuring access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy for all) recognizes that energy is central to progress in all areas of development.² However, in the context of Nepal, as in many other South Asian countries, deeply embedded structural conditions determined by gender, caste or ethnicity, religion, language, and geography to name a few have meant that access to, as well as benefits from, energy resources flow are unequal, with women, the poor, and people from excluded groups experiencing energy poverty differently and more severely than those from relatively advantaged groups.³

To address these challenges, the government, development institutions, and civil society groups have introduced policies and programs in Nepal. However, the extent to which these measures have brought transformative changes in the lives of the local population, especially women, the poor, and the marginalized remains to be determined. Further, the twin pressures of expanding energy resources to meet Nepal’s ambitious growth agenda, for which energy is crucial, and ensuring energy access to all, including addressing the distributive impact of energy sector development, provide an additional challenge.

This study seeks to provide a comprehensive analysis of gender equality and social inclusion (GESI) issues of the energy sector.

1.1 Research Context: Energy Development in Nepal

1.1.1 Energy Resources

The Government of Nepal has classified the country’s energy resources into three: (i) traditional (fuelwood, agricultural residue, and animal dung); (ii) commercial (energy supplied by grid electricity, coal, and petroleum products); and (iii) alternative (biogas, solar power, wind, and microhydropower).⁴ The latest available data show that 80% of the country’s energy comes from traditional sources (Figure 1.1) with the bulk (80%) consumed by the residential sector (Figure 1.2).

Figure 1.1: Sources of Energy, 2012–2013

(%)

Source: Central Bureau of Statistics. 2015. Statistical Pocket Book Nepal, 2014.

Figure 1.2: Energy Consumption by Sector, 2012–2013

(%)

Source: Water and Energy Commission Secretariat. 2014. Energy Data Sheet.

Nepal’s continued dependence on traditional sources stands in contrast to the fact that it has one of the highest per capita hydropower potentials in the world. Yet, hydropower provides less than 3% of its energy needs and has failed to deliver its potential so far.⁵ Figure 1.3 shows the generation capacity of hydropower projects that are currently in operation and under construction. More specifically, the hydropower potential of Nepal’s rivers is estimated to be 83,290 megawatts (MW), with 45,610 MW considered technically feasible (footnote 4).

Figure 1.3: Generation Capacity of Projects in Operation and under Construction, July 2015

(MW)

Source: Independent Power Producers’ Association, Nepal. 2015. List of Projects to be Developed by Independent Power Producers and Nepal Electricity Authority. Unpublished, updated 28 July 2015.

To