Feature by Fatima Anafu-Astanga
Bolgatanga, Jan.13, - The thick black walls, the hailing smoke that
meander into the skies through the kitchen roof, emanating from traditional
tripod, announcing the day’s preparation
of meals is no longer winning hearts. This is due to growing concerns of
exploitation of fuel wood for cooking and the attendant effects on the
environment.
THE GENESIS
In Ghana, the Ministry of Lands
and Natural Resources (2012) report indicates that Ghana is losing its forest
very quickly. It says Ghana’s forests cover had dwindled from 8.2
million hectares at
the beginning of
the 20th Century to only 1.6 million hectares. This
information is horrifying and need to prick the conscience of Ghanaians to
appreciate the urgent need for all to find alternatives to cooking.
According to experts as recorded
in the SPORE magazine, more than three billion people, (majority of them from
Asia and sub Saharan Africa) still cook without clean fuels and efficient
technologies, contributing to 90 per cent deforestation in Africa. According to the FAO, 60 per cent of charcoal
and 35 per cent of wood fuels are consumed globally.
The article “the risks of
increasing consumption, written by Romainloury ,(SPORE), Africa lost 75 million
hectares of forest area between 1990 and 2010.
The concern is that much as the
environment is being depleted through indiscriminate felling of trees to
acquire fuel wood, the same spate of effort is not made to find alternatives to
adopt new cooking technologies to reduce degradation on the environment.
The traditional forms of cooking
on tripods and stones over the years do not compromise on quantity of wood used
since the more the quantity of food cooked, the more wood and charcoal used and
these actions affect health of all,
especially women, children and the environment.
The situation in Senior High
Schools in the three regions of the north is no better, as most of these
institutions cook on a large scale to feed the students, using similar methods
of cooking.
These methods of cooking, impact
negatively on the environment. According to WHO, 4.3 million people suffer and
die from household pollution every year with 13,700 people dying annually due to indoor pollution in
Ghana while 600,000 deaths occur in Africa due to cardio vascular diseases and
cancers.
Globally, indoor pollution is
noted to be the third leading cause of deaths. Estimated health, environmental
and economic cost of traditional cooking and the use of solid fuels cost about
US$123 billion annually according to the report.
Heavy in-door pollution damages
the eyes and lungs. However, the use of improved cooking technologies leads to
reducing emissions and disease burdens.
It is for this reason that as a
nation, all must rise to the call for more environmental and healthy
livelihoods through the use of culturally-appropriate clean and efficient
cooking technologies that meet every traditional user’s needs to accelerate efforts
to increase access to clean, modern cooking fuels to achieve the goals for the Sustainable
Energy for All (SE4All).
EFFECTS OF UNCLEAN COOKING
STSTEMS
Underscored in the SDG Goal two
that stresses on good health and well -being of women and children, smoke
inhalation through cooking from these old methods hinder the achievement of
this goal if no actions are taken to improve the current situation. The
practice is a worry because women in the three regions of the north of Ghana,
who consume about 70 per cent of their primary energy needs on solid fuel,
charcoal and wood, continue to do so for the lack of alternatives.
To this end, women and girls
spend close to four hours or 30 per cent of the day searching for the resource
from farms, mangroves and forest areas for their cooking, with negative
implications. It is not only the quality time lost by these girls in school,
gathering fuel wood for their families,
but the women could instead use that period to carry out income earning
activities to support the family.
Unfortunately unpaid work in
terms of collection of fuel wood and cooking, remain a major cause of gender
inequality in the country especially in the three regions of the north.
To improve the situation of the
girls and the quality of education as in goal four, there is the need for more
families to adopt improved ways of cooking to reduce cooking time.
In the midst of the growing
environmental violations and indiscriminate wood use for cooking, the country’s
progress in charting the path to ensure SDG seven that seeks to guarantee
access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all by 2030,
is still bedevilled with challenges because families are unable to afford the
high cost of new cooking technologies and therefore rural communities find it
difficult to patronize the new cooking systems.
Even though the government of
Ghana in 2016 distributed over 20,000 LPG gas cylinders as part of efforts to
promote clean cooking, the continual use of gas has been bedevilled with
challenges, because beneficiaries are still unable to refill the cylinders and
discontinue use due to high cost of liquefied gas. It has therefore led to most
rural communities reverting to the use of wood for fuel.
To this end, there is the need
for Ghana to set out clear targets and make investments move towards
sensitising communities and institutions in respect of implementing policies to
achieve SDG seven which links to the other 16 SDG goals.
This is because when the time in
cooking household meals is reduced through the use of improved cooking systems,
the burden on families who go out and spend lots of time to collect and buy the
wood will reduce, thereby promoting zero hunger which goal two seek to solve.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Mr Dramani Bukari, the Officer in
charge of Energy at SNV, who spoke to the Ghana News Agency said to address all
the SDG content, Ghana must implement policies and strategies on clean cooking
systems.
He noted that even though Global
Alliance for Clean Cook Stoves and its counterpart in Ghana took a stand to
promote clean cook stoves, Ghana is yet to take its first step on its planned
target of 2 million clean cook stoves by 2020.
He noted that even though the
Global Alliance counterpart in Ghana intended to distribute about two million
cook stoves, it was not an official position accepted by the government of
Ghana and noted that the sector was crucial given the level of life associated
with indoor pollution and its attendant impact on women and children.
He said the time women and
children spend in search for wood could be rechanneled to other activities to
earn income and to reduce poverty.
Mr Bukari said in spite of the
fact that there were civil society organizations like Ghana Alliance for clean
cook stoves, there was the need for a coherent policy for the sector to
streamline and coordinate activities of partners to optimise impact.
Responding to questions on the
growing number of caterers on the school feeding programme and cooking in other
educational institutions where the use of large quantities of fuel wood for
cooking is inevitable, he suggested to government to provide improved stoves to
schools so that it would help reduce emissions, and check atmospheric and
thermal levels.
Coming from an advocacy
organisation, he said LPG should not be the only alternative for cooking for
people living in communities, hence improved stoves with less concentration on
heat and reduced smoke that use less wood should be promoted.
He stated that most people live
below the poverty line in the rural and some urban areas and therefore cannot
afford to purchase and use LPG mentioning ‘Agyapa’clean cook stoves, among
others that were on the market.
Mr Bukari therefore called on the
government to come out with clear policies and support manufacturers with
funding to produce low cost improved stoves at the community level .
According to him, it would be
ideal if the District and Municipal Assemblies include in their mid- term
development plans, budgets and strategies, the implementation of clean cook stoves
in communities.
GNA
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