| Overview : The Botswana’s National Report for the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) states that “Management of waste as waste is wasteful”. While the country has a laudable record in many areas of natural resource management, the sustainable management of the country’s waste sector – as well as its utilization of renewable energy sources – remains a persistent challenge. At present Botswana’s energy sources consist primarily of electricity, fuel and aviation gas; solar, biogas and biodiesel constitute only about 1 % of current national energy consumption. Given the high price of imported LPG and diesel and the associated contributions to climate change from their use, Botswana’s National Development Plan of 2010-2016 places a high emphasis on sustainable utilization of biogas in the country. In particular the inefficient management and disposal of agro-waste at meat abattoirs and their sewage treatment plants creates major environmental challenges and financial burdens, and are therefore priority areas for intervention to achieve the country’s Green Economy vision. At present the country has no biogas plants and is missing a major opportunity to produce and utilize biomethane from agro-waste as a substitute for imported LPG and diesel and for other low-carbon energy applications, particularly in South-eastern where 50% of Botswana’s population lives and more than 50% of the country’s poultry and intensive beef farming waste is generated.
In light of these challenges, UNDP and the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development are developing a proposal for a project on Promoting Production and Utilization of Bio-methane from Agro-waste in South-Eastern Botswana. The proposed objective of the project is “To facilitate low-carbon investments and public-private partnerships in the production and utilization of biomethane from agro-waste (for substitutes of diesel and/or LPG) in the districts of South-eastern Botswana.” A central output of the project is the facilitation and establishment of the first biogas plant in Botswana. To that end, the overall purpose of this is to conduct a pre-feasibility study at three potential sites in south-Easter Botswana to inform the development of the proposal/Project Document. |
