On a recent trip to Zambia, some of Peace Parks Foundation’s senior staff are visiting a village in the Simalaha Community Conservancy, where they are learning all about some of the different community-led programmes in operation here. After being welcomed with traditional song and dance, the group is then greeted by Simalaha’s Community Development Manager, Kabika Kumoyo, who runs them through some of the programmes already in place, including the nifty cookstove.
Throughout most parts of Africa, and certainly, within Zambia, the traditional method of cooking is via an open wood fire, otherwise known as a hearth or a charcoal burner. This method often requires burning large logs, illegal logging and charcoal burning practices.
Risks to Community and Nature
The open-wood fire poses many health risks to community members through inhaling smoke which contains carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and soot. Besides this, the fuel needed to cook with often results in illegal logging – the process whereby large and established forests are cut down in protected landscapes.
To mitigate these risks within the conservancy, COmON Foundation, Peace Parks Foundation and Commonland have implemented a successful cookstove programme for low-income households in Simalaha Community Conservancy. The cookstoves are a fuel-efficient and sustainable alternative to the traditional open-fire cooking method. The stove only requires a handful of small twigs to generate the same heat as the traditional way.
To date, 10 000 cookstoves have been distributed throughout Simalaha, and what started as a hopeful pilot project has now grown into a certified carbon credit programme registered by Gold Standard. You can learn more here.
Peace Parks Foundation and partners will continue to distribute these cookstoves, which will see the local communities and their forests continue to grow in a positive direction.
