KENYA PROJECTS

This small scale Gold Standard project will involve the distribution of wood-burning improved cook stoves to households in Maungu; Muhaka; Kasigau; Kwale Village & Golini Village, Kenya.

Muhaka is one of the villages that forms part of the Kinondo location in Msambweni Division Kwale District. The community is made up of an estimated 500, mainly Muslim, Digo indigenous families. Muhaka Village is located in Kwale District, which, records high incidences of poverty with an estimated 70% of the population living below the poverty line as indicated, by United Nations poverty levels. 

Kwale District has been ranked among the poorest in education infrastructure and resource development in Kenya. Over 50% of the school age population has no access to proper education resources. In Muhaka, the quality of education is very low, 70% of adults lack basic literacy skills, thus perpetuating poverty. Cases of early marriage and child labor are constantly on the rise due to the prevailing illiteracy.

The project is located in and around Kisumu, which is Kenya’s third largest city in Kenya and the principal city of western Kenya. 

Energy Efficient Stoves are built for families in villages throughout the area.  The stoves require 50% less firewood to cook with, and therefore reduce carbon emissions by 50% compared to traditional “open fires”.  As a result each energy efficient stove saves over 3 tonnes of carbon dioxide every year.

This project has clear social, health and economic benefits to the local families as it creates cheaper, easier and more hygienic method of cooking.

co2balance work closely with “Kisumu Initiative for Positive Empowerment”,  a local NGO, to assist in the development of the project.  KIPE is a youth-focussed organization supporting young people infected and affected by HIV/AIDS.

The Shimoni area includes one of the most extensive remaining coastal forest patches in Kenya. 273 Species of plant have been recorded with one-fifth of the plant species endemic to the remnant coastal forest of East-Africa and 24 species classified as rare. The population of Shimoni remains primarily dependent on traditional fishing, limited subsistence farming and exploitation of indigenous forest resources.

Likoni is a district of Mombassa, Kenya. It is the poorest area and is largely overpopulated, with most of its people suffering from unemployment, poor health and poverty.

Forty five percent of Likoni residents live on less thank one US dollar per day. The effects of the population on environment in the district include air pollution released from industrial, energy and transportation sources, land degradation and loss of biodiversity, solid waste and poor sanitation that has created health and environmental hazards. There is also large scale charcoal burning and deforestation often due to firewood collection by forest adjacent communities who are forest dependant.

Within the Aberdares Range there is large scale, uncontrolled, irregular, or illegal human activities like charcoal production, logging, settlements, and crop cultivation.  This has caused devastation within the range. The situation is so critical that a fence is being constructed to reduce such degradation.

co2balance will be attempting to address some of these issues by distributing improved cook stoves in the area surrounding the range. In the absence of this project, locals would primarily cook using traditional inefficient wood stoves.

The stoves will be constructed, distributed and installed by local people under the guidance of co2balance Kenya. These stoves will utilise the efficient rocket technology which initial testing has shown to be much efficient than traditional 3-stone fires. These stoves will use less firewood and emit less smoke, which will reduce daily firewood costs and illness caused by smoke inhalation.

This project will distribute approximately 20,000 improved stoves to households in the targeted area, which will reduce demand for firewood - as well as reduce indoor air pollution.  The time taken to collect firewood in the dry season and household expenditure on firewood during the wet season will also be reduced.

The project will be located in Chuka, Magumoni, Igambang’ombe, Mt Kenya forest divisions within the Meru South District in Eastern Province

In addition to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, will provide the

following co-benefits:

• Reduced deforestation and degradation of surrounding forests
• Reduced soil erosion and nutrient loss
• Reduced risk of flooding
• Reduced poverty, as the efficient wood stove reduces annual expenditure on cooking fuels
• Reduced adverse health effects associated with indoor air pollution
• Reduced cooking and wood collection time; householders can spend more time on other household tasks, as well as schooling and supervising children
• Reduced exposure of the firewood collectors (mainly women) to hazards in the deep forest (sexual assault and animal attacks)
• Reduced burns and injuries from cooking

This project will distribute approximately 20,000 improved stoves to households in the

targeted area, which will reduce demand for firewood - as well as reduce indoor air pollution.  The time taken to collect firewood in the dry season and household expenditure on firewood during the wet season will also be reduced.

The project will be located throughout 23 sub-locations in Msambweni and Kubo divisions in Kwale District, Coast Province.

This project, in addition to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, will provide the

following co-benefits:

• Reduced deforestation and degradation of surrounding forests
• Reduced soil erosion and nutrient loss
• Reduced risk of flooding
• Reduced poverty, as the efficient wood stove reduces annual expenditure on cooking fuels
• Reduced adverse health effects associated with indoor air pollution
• Reduced cooking and wood collection time; householders can spend more time on other household tasks, as well as schooling and supervising children
• Reduced exposure of the firewood collectors (mainly women) to hazards in the deep forest (sexual assault and animal attacks)

Reduced burns and injuries from cooking

This project will distribute approximately 20,000 improved stoves to households in the targeted area, which will reduce demand for firewood - as well as reduce indoor air pollution.  The time taken to collect firewood in the dry season and household expenditure on firewood during the wet season will also be reduced.

The project will be located in Kisumu West in the Nyanza Region,near Kisumu.

In addition to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, will provide the

following co-benefits:

• Reduced deforestation and degradation of surrounding forests
• Reduced soil erosion and nutrient loss
• Reduced risk of flooding
• Reduced poverty, as the efficient wood stove reduces annual expenditure on cooking fuels
• Reduced adverse health effects associated with indoor air pollution
• Reduced cooking and wood collection time; householders can spend more time on other household tasks, as well as schooling and supervising children
• Reduced exposure of the firewood collectors (mainly women) to hazards in the deep forest (sexual assault and animal attacks)

Reduced burns and injuries from cooking

In Kenya 70% of the national energy supply is met through use of biomass fuels, with 90% of this demand coming from household use. Traditional cooking involves the use of a 3-stone fire, which amongst other shortfalls is only able to produce 10% thermal efficiency, meaning that it requires large amounts of fuel. Added to a high population growth rate it is easy to see why Kenya loses forest coverage at a rate of 12,000 hectares per year.

Deforestation has contributed to numerous environmental problems in Kenya such as water shortages, soil erosion and loss of biodiversity. Added to environmental pressures are the social impacts of using traditional wood stoves. Biomass smoke has been linked to a range of health problems such as acute respiratory infections (ARI) in children and chronic obstructive lung diseases such as chronic bronchitis and asthma. Furthermore, due to the large quantities of fuel required for cooking on three stone fires, women and children in particular, have to spend many hours collecting fuel in often-hazardous conditions. 

To address the problems associated with three stone fire use, Co2balance, acting as carbon consultant for World Vision Kenya, plan to develop two efficient cook stove VPAs in Nakuru and Baringo Counties. Established micro-finance institutions will be used to help make them affordable to households. The projects will be implemented under the Gold Standard carbon credit body, ensuring that the social, environmental and economic impacts are measured as well as guaranteeing the long term sustainability of the project through carbon finance.