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Boris Schinke (Germanwatch) and Jens
Klawitter
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Analysis: Desertec and Human Development at the Local Level in the MENA-Region
[PDF]
Abstract So far the Desertec vision of a joint energy partnership between the European Union (EU) and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region to promote sustainable development in view of global challenges has been primarily represented and discussed in terms of technical parameters and the narrow application of economic cost-benefit-analysis. This technocratic perspective, however, is insufficient to capture potential socio-political and socio-economic impacts that such a purposive transition could have on either the livelihoods of the people in the MENA-region or the success of the concept itself. Without addressing the concept's human development dimension, it is likely to offer - next to climate benefits - only a few trickle-down effects and instead bears a high risk to generate numerous adverse impacts particularly on the most vulnerable groups of society. Thus, in order to improve the concept's outcomes, and guarantee not only its economic viability but at the same move it towards equity and sustainability, Desertec has to be understood in a much wider setting. In this regard, this study's purpose is to develop an analytical, process-driven framework, which provides a bottom-up guidance to integrate sustainable livelihoods and human rights into the Desertec concept to emphasize sustainable human development issues at the local scale in the MENA-region. In order to analyze and assess how the Desertec concept could impact the livelihoods of people living in the MENA-region and identify which human rights are affected, this study draws upon a human rights-based approach implemented into a sustainable livelihood framework. Based on the sustainable livelihood framework the integration of human rights provides valuable entry points for a comprehensive accounting of the distribution of the project's potential livelihood opportunities and challenges across geographical and social space. The focus on human rights tangent to Desertec thereby shifts the former technology and energy security- oriented perception of the concept towards a more people-centred assessment based on the views, needs, strengths, livelihoods and legitimate claims of the people in the MENA-region. Against the analytical background of the livelihoodhuman- rights-analysis, this paper concludes with a first set of sustainability principles and recommendations. This framework intends to give guidance on improved decision-making processes that could pursue a better achievement of the Desertec vision in the MENA-region and also serves as a conceptual starting point for dialogue among civil society, political stakeholders and industrial project planners. |
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