外文翻译--对南非低碳经济成功转型的挑战：贫穷的都市社区

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1、PDF外文：http:/                          外文翻译  外文题目：    Challenges to achieving a successful transition to a low                carbon economy in South Africa: examples from poor &nbs

2、p;                urban communities                                 出     处：    Springer Science Business Media              

3、       作     者：    Thuli N. Mdluli & Coleen H. Vogel                    Abstract South Africa faces several development challenges including those linked to climate change. Energy usage in South Africa, for exam

4、ple, is already constrained because of a range of development challenges (the dependence on cheap coal as a heating source； energy availability； access； affordability of alternative energy sources； and a range of health impacts, including air pollution). Notwithstanding calls for a transition to a l

5、ow carbon economy, there have been few, recent assessments in South Africa of the costs associated with such a transition, particularly the social and economic costs for the poor who use energy in a variety of ways. In this paper we focus on trying to unravel some of the complex energy-use behaviour

6、 including understanding what drives consumers in resourcepoor areas to choose and use persistently risky energy options. Analysis of qualitative data in two township areas, Doornkop and Kwaguqa, shows that township households, whether electrified or not, continue to burn coal. In both study areas,

7、an estimated 80% of electrified households burn coal for space heating and cooking and also make use of multiple fuel sources for a range of activities. Although the major obstacles preventing people from discontinuing domestic coal combustion are poverty, the ready availability and social acceptabi

8、lity of coal together with other social customs cannot be underrated. This paper therefore highlights some of the persistent challenges associated with sustainable energy transitions in South Africa including implications for improved mitigation and adaptation for the energy sector in wider climate

9、change efforts. Keywords  Domestic coal combustion .   Energy-use patterns . Introduction Climate change poses many challenges to a variety of sectors such as water, energy, and agriculture (IPCC 2007) in Africa and the southern African region, including issues related to adaptation and mi

10、tigation (IPCC 2007). Whereas significant attention is focussed on mitigation, particularly those efforts linked to energy production, relatively few assessments in the energy sector focus on adaptation issues and on what may be termed the softer side of energy use and uptake (e.g. improved understa

11、nding of both the economic and social costs underpinning energy use). Adaptation, for example, is being promoted as a way to reduce the vulnerability of both natural and human systems to expected climate change effects (IPCC 2007) and can include anticipatory, reactive, private, public and planned a

12、daptation. Moreover, more attention is required on trying to identify and understand some of the barriers to better and more effective energy fuel usage in southern Africa. Few in South Africa, for example, have undertaken an assessment of behavioural factors that may explain persistent, complex ene

13、rgy-use behaviours particularly for those already facing severe energy constraints e.g. the poor. Some argue that a focus only on the hard issues may indeed lead to a bias that results in implementation measures that centre on structural measures with the “neglect of potentially critical soft measur

14、es needed to facilitate adaptation” and other efforts (e.g. behavioural and policy measures) (Agrawala and Fankhauser 2008, 3). South Africas economy is energy intensive (Winkler 2006). Several months after the research for this paper was undertaken, for example, country-wide rolling energy blackout

15、s occurred (e.g. in the early months of 2008), profiling energy as a development concern in the country. Faced with the combined challenges of climate change and energy, the government of South Africa has proposed several strategies including alternative energy sources to reduce the heavy dependence

16、 on domestic coal combustion (Britton 1998； Hoets 1998； Surridge 2004； Winkler and Marquard 2009). More recently, the focus has also expanded to include energy resource issues, development concerns and energy and climate change themes (UNFCCC 2000) (e.g. the Long Term Mitigation Scenarios, LTMS1Wink

17、ler 2009； Winkler and Marquard 2009； the National Climate Change Response Strategy effortsDEAT 2004b； and the National Energy Efficiency AccordStiles 2006； and national communication assessments as part of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate ChangeDEAT 2004a). The Carbon Disclosure Pr

18、oject in South Africa, whereby some of the top Johannesburg Stock Exchange companies disclose their carbon reduction efforts and strategies, has for example, also seen the increased engagement of the business community in climate change (e.g. CDP 2007 and 2008). The focus and efforts in carbon tradi

19、ng and the search for carbon assets thus has many engaging in a variety of energy endeavours in South Africa. Despite this activity, we argue in this paper, that few efforts to understand the implication of such endeavours, including estimations of the costs (both financial and social), particularly

20、 at the local level, have been undertaken arguably where the rubber hits the road (Winkler 2009). In an attempt to address some of these concerns, we use the concept of the energy ladder to examine energy usage in two townships settings in South Africa, namely Doornkop and Kwaguqa. This investigatio

21、n shows, and confirms earlier investigations of this type (Van Horen et al. 1993； Masera et al. 2000； Winkler et al. 2000), that township households, whether electrified or not, still continue to burn coal. We then begin to explore why this behaviour persists by identifying some of the challenges an

22、d constraints facing energy users. This local comparative study thus expands on earlier work of this nature including overviewsof the social dimensions impacting on energy use (e.g. Winkler 2009). Such a detailed assessment, we argue, when coupled to a range of other macro-economic challenges, may i

23、ndeed provide additional nuances to what is already a complicated set of issues facing any engaged in the search for transitions to a low energy economy. Wider, macro-issues, while critical, are not examined here (e.g. What types of energy transition and pathways may best suite the country? Some of this is explored more broadly by Fischer-Kowalski and Haberl (2007) and for South Africa by Winkler and Marquard (2009) and also in the LTMS). While the field research is now a bit dated, we believe that the broad outcomes of the study highlight persistent issues that merit further attention.