For the half of the world's population still dependent on wood and other traditional fuels for basic cooking and heating needs, a serious supply crisis is emerging: forests are disappearing and population pressure on other energy sources is mounting. This book analyzes the energy problems of those caught in the trap of rural subsistence and explores the role energy might play in the transition away from subsistence. It includes eight specially commissioned studies of different developing countries and a review of the small-scale energy technologies presently available for rural use.

Beginning from the premise that Mexico's economic strength will depend largely on its ability to produce, manage, and export energy, energy experts in this book analyze energy planning in Mexico in the 1970s and possible strategies for the future. They focus on the potential for diversifying the country's energy economy--now based almost exclusively on oil--by examining alternative sources, particularly natural gas, coal, and geothermal and solar resources. The extent to which Mexico's energy base is diversified, they assert, will determine the country's ability both to meet internal energy needs and to prolong its export of oil and gas. find, diversification will not only increase Mexico's economic strength, but will also expand the global supply of energy resources and have profound impact on the United States, Mexico's major trading partner.

Since 1981 Latin America has been in the midst of a protracted external debt crisis due, among other reasons, to emergency borrowing at record-high real interest rates and the decline in the region's export proceeds. Until now, most literature on the subject originated in industrial lender countries, whose primary concern is the impact of the debt

Originally published as part of a special studies series on Latin America. The objective of the research contained in this book is to provide answers to questions about certain basic issues arising in the energy policy making process in Mexico. Do Mexico's recent efforts in elaborating and introducing energy policy correspond to these generalized