Wang et al. _VisualisingNepalsElecSupplyResilience_accepted.pdf (692.84 kB)
Visualizing Nepal’s electricity supply resilience from a whole-systems perspective: A participatory approach
journal contribution
posted on 2021-12-01, 11:16 authored by Xinfang Wang, Louise Reardon, Long Seng ToLong Seng ToEnergy resilience is a complex issue, encapsulating a diversity of factors. Such complexity makes effective policymaking difficult, and requires a whole-systems approach. This paper argues that the bottom-up participatory causal loop mapping method can be helpful in facilitating a shared understanding of the issues, and can help facilitate the application of a whole-systems approach to the design of effective policy interventions. Focusing on Nepal as a case study, this paper outlines the participatory approach, highlighting the method’s value in visualising the variables and interconnections affecting the resilience of Nepal’s electricity supply. Through the mapping, participants identified four interconnected groups of factors as important for resilience: governance, technology, economic and social. Within these, political leadership was noted as particularly important. Environmental factors were largely absent, which is an interesting result given the emphasis on renewable sources and clean technologies in energy policy in Nepal. The outcomes of our bottom-up participatory approach show the significant benefit of using this approach for highlighting context-dependent understandings of complex issues and represents a novel methodological innovation for energy research, which could be applied in diverse geographies and contexts.
Funding
Institute for Global Innovation (IGI) of the University of Birmingham
Royal Academy of Engineering under the Research Fellowship scheme
History
School
- Social Sciences and Humanities
Department
- Geography and Environment
Published in
Energy Research & Social ScienceVolume
85Publisher
Elsevier BVVersion
- AM (Accepted Manuscript)
Rights holder
© ElsevierPublisher statement
This paper was accepted for publication in the journal Energy Research & Social Science and the definitive published version us available at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2021.102409.Acceptance date
2021-11-11Publication date
2021-11-27Copyright date
2021ISSN
2214-6296Publisher version
Language
- en
Depositor
Dr Long Seng To. Deposit date: 30 November 2021Article number
102409Usage metrics
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