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Call for using cleaner cookstoves

Executive director of Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves talks to The Daily Star

Md Fazlur Rahman
Bangladesh should go for cleaner cookstoves to save its thousands of women and young children from premature death and improve their livelihoods and combat climate change, said an expert yesterday.
"Cleaner cookstoves can have an important health and environmental impact in Bangladesh," said Radha Muthiah, executive director of the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves.
She said, about three billion people around the world are exposed to high levels of harmful smoke each day from traditional cookstoves, as they are still reliant on traditional forms of cooking. "And the results are two million deaths annually."
"After water, indoor air pollution is the largest environmental threat to health in developing countries. Women and young children bear the brunt of these costs," she told The Daily Star in an interview.
"The reliance of the world's poor on solid fuels for their cooking needs, in the end, affects us all through the release of carbon dioxide and black carbon that contribute to climate change," she said.
She said some two million people die annually as a result of cancers, heart and lung diseases, and other ailments — all because they were engaged in one of the most basic human survival functions: cooking a meal.
"This, of course, is an issue Bangladeshis are unfortunately quite familiar with and aware of. Ninety percent of the population, some 30 million households, are still reliant on solid fuels and traditional cookstoves and women
spend about one-third of their day gathering wood and cooking."
"Air pollution that impacts the health and the environment of your fellow countrymen and women leads to 46,000 deaths a year, a shocking number," she said.
Muthiah is now in Dhaka to attend a two-day workshop, which began yesterday, on clean cookstoves at the BRAC Centre Inn.
The Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, the organiser of the workshop, is a new public-private partnership to save lives, improve livelihoods, empower women, and combat climate change by creating a thriving global market for clean and efficient household cooking solutions.
Launched in 2010 at the Clinton Global initiative, the Alliance's '100 by '20' goal calls for 100 million homes to adopt clean and efficient stoves and fuels by 2020. It will work with public, private, and non-profit partners to help overcome the market barriers that currently impede the production, deployment, and use of clean cookstoves in the developing world.
About 350 different partners have joined the effort so far, with US$25 in multiyear commitments to the Alliance and up to $100 million US government parallel funding support for the cause.
Muthiah, the former vice president of CARE USA, said since 1970, half of Bangladesh's forests have disappeared, though in recent years efforts have begun to reverse this troubling trend. However 6o percent of the rural population still purchases wood as their primary source of fuel.
"So, there is a health reason for Bangladesh to be concerned about. There is also an environment reason as we all know climate change in
Bangladesh and the forests are being degrading."
"Some of the impact is related to cookstove. Some of that is the result of wood that is being chopped down and collected to be used as fuel."
The mother of two sons said women often take about six to eight hours a day to travel and collect this fuel, whether it is dung, leaves or wood. "That time can be better spent with the family and in an earning capacity. Clean cookstove is
important for Bangladesh.”
She said the organisation is prioritising countries around the world. "Bangladesh would be one of them, where we can provide international standards, engage the governments, champion the issue and raise resources to be able to tackle the important issue and the silent killer for us around the world.”
She said the workshop in Dhaka would try to determine the target for Bangladesh and what will be the
key interventions for the country and how the various partners in Bangladesh including the government will come together to address the very important problem.
"In Bangladesh, we know that 30 million households still use rudimentary cooking. Our hope is eventually all of the 30 million households will be using clean cooking solutions."
She said she hopes the government of Bangladesh and the private sector would come together to solve the problem.
For the alliance, Bangladesh is a priority country for a few reasons. ”30 million households still need clean cooking solutions. It is a big number. We need to be able to address that. There are 46,000 deaths every year in Bangladesh. We do not need to have that. We need to be able to address some other issues," Muthiah said.
"We feel that the solution will help mitigate some of the issues related to climate change."
She said unlike many areas, a lot of research has been done in the clean cooking technology. "We already have solutions. There are a lot of clean cooking solutions available."
"The issue now is how to make the user aware of it and how to make it a price affordable to them and how to be able to scale up the production of the existing solutions, so they can be used by the hundreds of thousands of households around the world."
She said there is tremendous scope for improvement in impact in Bangladesh. "We have received government support and NGOs in Bangladesh and different international partners. With their help, we can really make a big difference in Bangladesh."
She said the government in Bangladesh is committed to the issue. "We look forward to the environment and forest ministry is taking the lead and bringing others on the board. We hope they will play their role as well."
Muthiah said people are going into forests and chopping down trees, bushes and leaves to use to cook as fuel. If we have a more efficient and cleaner stove we do not need as much fuel. That is one way you can support environment."
"If the smoke is not being emitted the way it is created now will naturally help the environment. It is a silent killer around the world.”
Muthiah, who has an MBA from Stanford University and Bachelor of Arts and Masters degrees in Economics from Tufts University, said over the last few months, through the development of the alliance strategic business plan, the Alliance has been extending its global efforts to national and local stakeholder engagement and action on the ground.
"This is what brings us to Bangladesh. The commitment of the government, availability of consumer finance, entrepreneurship, truly innovative models for reaching and engaging those at the base of the pyramid are strong and varied."
"It is fertile ground to test and learn and scale."
Muthiah, who now lives in Washington, said the use of clean cookstoves and fuels can dramatically reduce fuel consumption and exposure to cookstove smoke.
Development of a global clean cookstove industry that is constantly innovating to improve design and performance, while lowering the cost of stoves, can lead the way to widespread adoption of clean cooking solutions.