This chapter describes the status of development and utilisation
of the various energy sources present in or accessed
from the marine environment. For over ten years, natural
methane gas extracted from below the seabed has been
used to produce energy in some countries, famously in
Tanzania and Mozambique. However, there are other less
obvious alternatives to energy available in the sea, notably
from tides, currents and waves and the thermal properties
of waters from the deep ocean.
With the exception of Reunion and Mayotte (France),
all countries in the WIO region are exempt from reducing
greenhouse gas emissions under the Kyoto Protocol to
the  United Nations Framework Convention on Climate
Change  (UNFCCC). Consequently, there is no international
obligation to reduce emissions from the burning of
coal, oil or gas. The realisation is that these countries need
energy to develop and reduce poverty and that their contributions
to climate change are insignificant. However, they
are still committed under the treaty to reduce their emissions.
Actions taken to reduce emissions include support
for  renewable energy, improving energy efficiency, and
reducing deforestation.
A common feature of the eastern Africa countries of
Kenya, Tanzania and Mozambique, as well as Madagascar,
is the generally poor coverage and irregular availability of
electricity, infrastructure shortcomings that affect people’s
businesses, education and well-being. In Tanzania for
example, with a population now exceeding 40 million,
results from the 2010/11 National Panel Survey show that
access to electricity had increased from 13 per cent to 17
per cent between 2008/09 and 2010/11, but that in rural
areas access to electricity was only 5.3 per cent (NBS 2013).
This chapter considers the sources, impacts and potential
of energy derived only from the marine environment,
yet it is important to note that a number of land-based,
renewable energy sources are being explored within the
region. For example, Kenya is exploring benefits from geothermal
energy (CDKN 2013) while Madagascar has identified
significant small and micro-hydropower potential
(Liu and others, 2013); solar and wind sites are considered
on Reunion and Comoros (African Energy 2013), and the
expanded use of biofuels on Mauritius (Republic of Mauritius
2014). In Tanzania and Mozambique, sugar cane and
cassava projects to produce ethanol and biomass to fuel
power generators are gaining support (Arndt and others,
2010, Wiggins and others, 2011). These are all land-based
sources of energy.