30m houses to get clean cookstoves by 2030
The government has set a target to distribute clean cookstoves among five million households by 2017 and 30 million by 2030 to save people from health hazardous smokes and protect the environment.
“Bangladesh is one of the lowest emitters of carbon dioxide as the country emits around 0.25 tonnes of the gas per capita a year while it stands at around 20 tonnes for the US,” Power Secretary Monowar Islam said.
“But we are now focusing on improved cookstoves as it will prevent our mothers and sisters from breathing in dangerous smoke during cooking.”
He spoke at the launch of an action plan for clean cookstoves. The Power Division and Washington-based Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves (GACC) coorganised the programme at Bidyut Bhaban in the capital yesterday.
GACC, Netherlands Development Organisation and German Development Cooperation are working closely with the government to achieve the goals along with other development partners.
More than 90 percent of the population use solid fuels for cooking, and the rapidly expanding population and heavy reliance on biomass have put immense pressure on Bangladesh’s limited forest resources, according to the action plan.