TANZANIA PROJECTS

This project will involve the distribution of 20,000 energy efficient stoves within a number of wards in Meru District, near Arusha Tanzania.  Most families in the area use the traditional 3-stone cooking stove that produces a big fire and consumes large amounts of firewood. This means that a lot of time is spent collecting firewood that would be used otherwise for other developmental activities.  The three stone fire also produces a lot of smoke which causes respiratory disease, particularly in women/girls who use it for cooking, but also in young children of both sexes and other people (e.g. the elderly) who spend a lot of time indoors.  The use of this inefficient cooking method also has unintentional negative impacts on the environment surrounding local people.

The project will be attempting to address these issues by distributing energy efficient stoves to households in Meru District wards that in the absence of this project would cook primarily using traditional inefficient firewood stoves. The Stove to be constructed is the Carbon Zero Stove (CZS) stove, that saves over 50% firewood as compared to the three stone stove.  The stoves will be constructed, distributed and installed by local people under the guidance of co2balance Tanzania Ltd.  These stoves will utilise the efficient rocket technology. These stoves will be using less firewood and emitting less smoke, which will reduce daily firewood costs and alleviate illness caused by smoke inhalation.

Biomass fuel accounts for approximately 96pc of rural energy supply in Tanzania. With 87pc of the Tanzania population living in rural communities and a population growth rate of 3pc/annum, there is an increasing pressure on the local biomass resources[1]. Estimates suggest that Tanzania lost 20pc of its forests between 1990 and 2010, and is continuing to lose forest at a rate of 1.1pc/year.[2] The remaining forests are expected to contain 2,019 mn t CO2e, so it is vital to reduce the rate of deforestation of non-renewable sources in order to minimize the release of this carbon into the atmosphere[3].

In addition to the environmental impacts, the burning of biomass fuels for cooking is known to have negative health impacts. Respiratory conditions account for 12pc of mortality in Tanzania, with the most recent World Health Organization  (WHO) data attributing 18,897 deaths a year to the incomplete combustion of solid fuels. The WHO highlights three particular epidemiological results of solid-fuel burning including respiratory infections in children, pulmonary disease in adults and lung cancer.[4]

The rural population in Tanzania use a three-stone fire, estimated to have an efficiency of just 10pc[5]. Some 94pc of the rural population burn wood for cooking and 6pc use charcoal.  In contrast urban regions have a much greater reliance on charcoal, with just 29pc cooking with wood4. CO2e balance will be working in rural regions and hence have focused on maximizing the energy efficiency of a wood burning in a stove design. The increased efficiency of the stove will reduce carbon emissions to the atmosphere as well as reducing harmful emissions known to have negative health impacts.

An additional benefit of the project is the development of local human capacity, both through employment and knowledge transfer. The carbon financing will be used to educate and employ members of the local population to develop, distribute and maintain the cook stoves. Tanzania still remains one of the poorest countries in the world, listed at 148 out of 174 in the UNDP’s human development index, thus highlighting the importance of investment in sustainable development within the region. [6]

[1] http://www.fao.org/docrep/r5265e/r5265e05.htm

[2] ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/011/i0350e/i0350e04b.pdf

[3] http://rainforests.mongabay.com/deforestation/2000/Tanzania.htm

[4] http://apps.who.int/ghodata/

[5] UNFCCC Methodology AMS-II-G http://cdm.unfccc.int/UserManagement/FileStorage/AUBHMWJVKFSY9D1380NOI5ET26ZQLG

[6] http://hdrstats.undp.org/en/countries/profiles/TZA.html