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Energy Saving Stoves: Potential Solution to Deforestation in Rural Tanzania
By Emmanuel Komba; The Executive Director, GICD
Majority of rural households in Tanzania depends on firewood for cooking, which is now becoming a scarce and expensive resource due to population growth. These households still cook using the traditional three-stone open fire hearths, which require huge loads of firewood to function and are very inefficient, i.e reportedly with a heat loss of more than 80%. This has led to an increasing deforestation and environmental degradation.
We attended exhibition of Women’s’ day in March 2020 where we had an opportunity to raise public awareness on the importance of forest conservation and the use of energy saving stoves. We demonstrated use of energy stoves, which burn wood efficiently, reduce heat wastage and amounts of smoke. We also educated the public including secondary school students who visited us on bee keeping and tree planting activities as alternative source of income while at the same time conserving the environment.
