Projectos eco

How cookstoves help protect the rainforest

Nyungwe Forest National Park in the southwestern corner of Rwanda is the largest mountain rainforest on this side of the African continent and the country's most important site for biodiversity. However, the growing population in areas around the park and their increasing use of firewood for cooking is putting more and more pressure on the unique rainforest ecosystem.

Our project enables households to reduce their wood consumption. Traditionally, families here cook over an open three-stone fire. This is inefficient and also a serious threat to health due to the heavy smoke pollution. The project introduces efficient cooking stoves made of local clay and sand. The so-called Canarumwe model is produced by a local cooperative and consumes two thirds less fuel than the three-stone fire. The stoves are offered at a subsidized price so that low-income households can afford them.

HOW DO COOKSTOVES  HELP FIGHT GLOBAL WARMING?

In many of the world's poorer regions, families cook their meals over an open fire, often in enclosed spaces. This method of cooking is however not energy efficient, as large amounts of heat go to waste. Clean cooking stoves are often simple devices made from metal or clay that use energy more efficiently. Families can thus save fuel and cut down on carbon emissions. Sometimes the stoves are even used in small businesses.

SDG 1 - End poverty in all its forms everywhere (More time for income generating activities)

SDG 2 - End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture (Support for families living from the cultivation of tea, which is a mayor crop in the region)

SDG 3 - Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages (Reducing smoke during cooking helps prevent respiratory and other diseases)

SDG 4 - Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all (More time for education and attending school)

SDG 5 - Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls (Improving health conditions and reducing workload, especially for women and children)

SDG 7 - Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all (Access to clean and economic cooking for all households in the project area)

SDG 8 - Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all (Creating jobs and stimulating the local economy through production and sale of the stoves)

SDG 12 - Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns (The efficient stoves allow for a more responsible use of wood as a cooking fuel)

SDG 13 - Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts (The project saves an average of 10,000 tonnes of CO₂ per year)

SDG 15 - Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss (Preserving Nyungwe National Park's biodiversity with 300 bird species and 13 recorded primates including chimpanzees and colobus monkeys)

SDG 17 - Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development (Our carbon offset projects are building bridges from companies from industrialized countries to people in the world's poorest countries)

Project Standard: Gold Standard VER (GS VER)

Technology: Clean cookstoves

Region: Nyungwe, Rwanda

Annual volume: 10.000 t CO2

Verified by: SustainCERT