Save the Children International (SCI) on Saturday distributed solar-powered cooking stoves to 50 households surrounding Dzalanyama Forest Reserve in Malawi in a drive to mitigate deforestation and environmental degradation.

The distributed solar-powered cooking stoves, which were valued at MK13 million, consume minimal firewood and generate less smoke thereby decreasing respiratory illnesses women are exposed to.

SCI Innovations Manager Bright Chidzumeni said this is a pilot project through which the organization wants to complement government efforts to mitigate the impacts of climate change.

“The idea of purchasing cooking stoves to deliver to this community came by because we realized how Dzalanyama Forest Reserve has been abused for a long time, and people keep on cutting down trees, and mainly it’s because some of them are looking for firewood. Some of them are cutting down trees because they want to produce charcoal. But as a way of mitigating the issue, we realized that we could provide these cooking stoves, which are solar powered, and they use minimal amount of firewood,” said Chidzumeni.

He said this is one of the components in an innovation called “Internet for Trees”, which SCI supported in developing to save trees from further degradation.

“Through this pilot project, we would like to assess the, you know, the extent of the impact of this intervention, beyond just providing this the cooking stops, we are looking forward to encouraging the community to plant more trees, to work together, because if they have received the cooking stoves, then they should have the motivation to plant trees and take care of the trees. So we’ll monitor the pilot project and see if there’s any impact. And we are likely to do this to more communities and more households. But also we have to take note that there’s an emerging industry called carbon credit, where, when you mitigate the emission of carbon into the environment, we are able to to earn from industries that are into manufacturing. So this could also be another way of us testing the market to see if how much carbon we are, we are reducing from the environment by this intervention,” he said.

Chidzumeni expressed hope that the initiative will eventually improve the performance of children in school since they will now direct all their energies to studies unlike in the past when they used to help their mothers gather firewood.

Assitant Plantation Manager for Dzalanyama Timber Plantation, Noel Chimombo, commended SCI for the initiative, which he said will go a long way in reversing the damage made to the forest.

But Chimombo pleaded with the communities to plant more trees in their backyards.

He said planting trees is the most reliable and sustainable means to mitigate effects of climate change.

In her appreciation remarks, Lydia Nyalilo Banda – a mother of four children from Group Village Head Nthenda in Traditional Authority Masumbankhunda – described the donation as timely.

Banda said using the solar-powered cooking stove will ease the burden of gathering firewood from distant places.

“We walk long distances with our children to gather firewood. And usually we carry very heavy load of firewood, which is endangering the health of our children. But this will no longer be the case. We really thank Save the Children for such a donation,” she said.