The Energy Situation in Developing Countries

The energy situation in developing countries is desperate. Because these countries are primarily dependent on fossil fuels--chiefly oil--for industrial growth, they have been hard hit by oil price increases.

Further, in the rural areas, where most of the population lives, there are limited supplies of increasingly expensive diesel fuel or kerosene. Noncommercial energy sources such as firewood, dung, and agricultural residues are generally used in rural areas, but under the pressure of growing populations the forests are disappearing.

This is resulting in a critical shortage of firewood for cooking and heating, as well as in the destruction of the environment. In addition, when dung and agricultural residues are burned, valuable fertilizers are destroyed. Thus, the rural areas--the sources of food and fiber--face a particularly alarming situation.