100 families get ‘clean energy stoves’

Islamabad : Minister of State for Climate Change Zartaj Gul on Thursday launched the Clean Energy Efficient Cooking Stove project at Chawan Forest Rest House in Karore area of Rawalpindi.

The project meant for the sustainable forest management and promoting climate-friendly cooking in the country was launched by the Ministry of Climate Change in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme.

The minister distributed stoves among 100 households of the area for demonstration purposes would cause saving of 5,011 to 5,846 metric ton of wood and reduction of 7,617 to 8,686 metric tons CO2, said a press release issued here.

Addressing the ceremony, she said adoption of these stoves would help to save forest from degradation, reduce deforestation and contribute into mitigation of negative impacts caused by changes in climate.

She said it would also protect eyes and lungs from smoke through using the wood in conventional and reduce cost and timing of cooking.

The minister said it was not the first time to distribute the fuel efficient stoves, the project had already distributed 300 fuel efficient stoves in 2019 in the same landscape in Punjab.

She said the objective of the Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) was to promote sustainable forest management in Pakistan's western Himalayan temperate coniferous forests in Khyber Pakthunkhwa, sub-tropical broadleaved evergreen thorn (scrub) and Chir Pine Forests in Punjab Riverine Forests in Sindh for biodiversity conservation, mitigation of climate change and securing of forests ecosystem services.

"The project is meant for the implementation of three inter-related and mutually complementary components that were focused at addressing the barriers of inadequate planning, regulatory and institutional frameworks to integrated forest resource management and the limited experience among key government and civil society stakeholders in developing and implementing SFM practices on the ground," she said.