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Energy access and energy security in Asia and the Pacific

This paper explores energy access, energy poverty, and energy development as energy security concerns confronting Asia and the Pacific. Improved access to energy services is arguably the key defining characteristic of economic development. Lack of access and energy poverty contribute to hunger with women and children spending long hours gathering fuels rather than earning incomes. The health consequences are dire with indoor air pollution associated with traditional energy use responsible for more deaths each year than those from malaria and tuberculosis.Environmentally, energy poverty forces its victims to harvest more polluting and less energy-dense fuels such as woody biomass or charcoal often causing land degradation, deforestation, and the contamination of soil and water resources. Such depletion instigates conflicts over land, decreases food supply, diminishes sources of traditional medicine, and accelerates malnutrition, all of which involve various dimensions of energy security.

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