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By Annonciata Byukusenge
MUKARANGE, Kayonza District – In this farming community in Rwanda’s Eastern Province, every day begins the same – searching for firewood and hauling the heavy bundles home.
The nearby Akagera National Park has long been a source of fuel wood for communities in the area, contributing to deforestation, soil erosion, and landslides.
In 2020, the Swiss-based International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) started working with the community to restore local forests. That meant providing each home with environmentally-friendly cooking stoves, which use less wood.
In the Mukarange sector, some households got stoves, others did not.
“The cooking stoves were supposed to go to every household, but local leaders distributed them randomly,” said one woman, who asked not to be identified for fear of reprisals by local leaders. “I am one of the vulnerable families in the Kayonza District who didn’t receive a cooking stove,” she added.
Her neighbour, who also asked not to be identified so she could speak freely, said she received a stove, which has made a big difference to her household costs and how she spends her time.
“Before using a cooking stove, I used 10 pieces of wood per week, but today I use four pieces of wood per week,” she said. “I save money because … now I do other things to generate income for my family.”
The woman said every household was meant to get a stove.
“At the end of 2021, the IUCN authorities in a community meeting told us each family would receive a cooking stove to reduce indoor gas emissions and to combat climate change, because one of the challenges we have in the east is the drought caused by the impact of climate change,” she explained.
“The IUCN granted our district the money. We don’t know if an entrepreneur has the money for those cooking stoves or if he used the money,” she added.
In the Nyagihanga sector, local leaders distributed cooking stoves thrice between 2020 and 2024, but not everyone received one. One resident, who asked not to be named because he feared being arrested if he spoke to the media, said he did not receive a stove.
“I can’t find two thousand Rwandan francs for the chief of the village to appear on the list of households that are eligible to receive cooking stoves,” the resident said.
NO TOLERANCE FOR CORRUPTION
Toussaint Matsiko, executive secretary of the Nyagihanga sector, said village leaders who took money for the stoves would be removed.
“Some village leaders are not fulfilling their responsibilities properly, including those who residents say are asking for money,” Matsiko said in an interview with Forefront Magazine. “We are going to follow up on this, and whoever is found to have been involved will be punished and removed as chief village officers,” he added.
He said the stoves would help reduce deforestation and poaching, particularly for communities living near the Akagera National Park in the northeastern corner of Rwanda, close to the Tanzanian border.
About 80% of households in Sub-Saharan Africa – or about one billion people – still cook using smoky, high-emission fuels such as wood, kerosene, and charcoal, which contribute to climate change and take a particularly heavy toll on women’s health, according to the Paris-based International Energy Agency (IEA).
As countries work to meet their emissions-cutting targets under a global climate accord, governments want their populations to use cooking stoves that emit less carbon dioxide, the IEA explained.
The cooking stoves come in a variety of designs – some burn fuels like charcoal or wood more efficiently, while others use fuels like liquefied petroleum gas.
BETTER FOR THE ENVIRONMENT
Jean Claude Habimana, IUCN communications and membership officer in Rwanda, confirmed that the group had donated cooking stoves to communities in Kirehe and Nyagatare.
“As part of reducing dependence on excessive use of firewood and pressure on cutting forests, IUCN, through the AREECA project, gave stoves to the communities of Kirehe and Nyagatare … because they are more accessible, easier to take care of, and better for the environment,” he said. The AREECA project seeks to restore forests in the eastern region.
“Unlike gas and electric stoves, which need frequent supplies of gas or electricity that can be expensive or hard to get, especially in remote areas, these stoves use local, renewable resources like wood,” he said.
Christine Uwamurera, a mother of two who lives in the Mwiri sector, said that with the money she saved from buying wood, she was able to buy more goats and grow more vegetables.
“Every day I wondered where I could find wood and money to buy wood,” she said. “Because we live near Akagera National Park, we use wood from the park, and sometimes our colleagues kill animals to sell or eat,” she said.
Uwamurera said she was not asked to pay for her stove, but acknowledged that some people in the community had to pay for theirs.
The project received support from the Thomson Reuters Foundation as part of its global work aimed at strengthening free, fair, and informed societies. Any financial assistance or support provided to the journalist has no editorial influence. The content of this article belongs solely to the author and is not endorsed by or associated with the Thomson Reuters Foundation, Thomson Reuters, Reuters, or any other affiliates.
