Abstract
Variability in temperature and precipitation due to climate change is predicted to significantly impact on Southern African countries' resources. These variations have the potential to affect the energy sector due to a heavy reliance on hydropower for electricity in the region. Energy insecurity is largely felt in cities as they are large consumers of the resource. This negatively impacts on urban livelihoods reliant on electricity like those in the informal sector. A survey of electricity dependent home-based informal businesses operated by women was conducted, to generate information on the vulnerability of urban livelihoods to energy insecurity in Harare, Zimbabwe. Households across all socio-economic backgrounds performed informal businesses to supplement household income and were heavily depended on the irregular electricity supply. Women from poor households managing informal businesses were disproportionately affected by the unstable electricity supply, as they could not afford alternative energy sources to continue business operations during power cuts. This accentuated their low adaptive capacity and vulnerability to climate change induced stresses. This paper brings to light the importance of improving the resilience and adaptive capacity of urban livelihoods to climate change related challenges like energy insecurity, whilst exploring climate-resilient energy options to sufficiently mitigate against the impacts of climate change on energy security.
Highlights
Climate change has the potential to negatively impact on water dependent power generating technologies like hydropower
The findings of this study indicated that a business’ adaptive capacity to energy insecurity stresses strongly influenced income earned and success of the home-based informal business
It has been argued that the current dominance of hydropower in Zimbabwe’s energy production structure and the increase in extreme weather events do not seem to offer a sustainable environment for socio-economic development
Summary
Climate change has the potential to negatively impact on water dependent power generating technologies like hydropower This is evident in Africa as droughts have historically disrupted hydropower generation, reducing plants to half of their capacity, leading to power rationing (Chenje and Johnson, 1996; Mukheibir, 2007; Zambezi River Authority, 2016, 2019). This exposes Africa’s dependency on hydropower and highlights the continent’s vulnerability to energy insecurity. Energy supports the success of urban sources of livelihood like the informal sector, primarily practised by the urban poor. Their adaptive capacity is low; they are more vulnerable to energy insecurity
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
