DAR ES SALAAM, March 10 (NNN-DAILYNEWS) — PRESIDENT Samia Suluhu Hassan has pledged to collaborate with Vice President’s Office (Union and Environment) and the Ministry of Energy to ensure effective realisation of the clean cooking agenda in the country.
The Head of State said that as a champion of clean cooking agenda in Africa, she will do whatever possible to make sure the country succeeds in implementing the initiative.
The President made the pledge through a phone call to the Vice-President, Dr Philip Mpango who was presiding over the Women’s Clean Cooking Conference 2024 in Dodoma.
She told the conference participants “I am your leader carrying out the agenda of clean cooking within the African continent. I am also its champion… I am pleased that the Ministry of Energy and the Vice-President’s Office (Union and Environment) Ministry have convened such a crucial conferenced involving women who are the main targeted group.”
Dr Samia said, “as you are aware, in May this year we will be going to look for funds to promote the issue of clean cooking energy in Africa, in carrying out this agenda in Africa, my promise is that I will do whatever possible for my country in this issue of clean cooking energy.”
She said through the initiative, the country is going to conserve its forests as well as environment and called upon women who got the opportunity to attend the conference to attentively listen to what will be presented and share with their fellow women, pledging government support on issues which they are going to implement.
In December last year while presiding over the launch of the Africa Women Clean Cooking Support Programme (AWCCSP), Dr Samia said clean cooking energy is the heart of climate change mitigation for inclusive sustainable development in Africa.
The launch of AWCCSP was one of the sideline events at the on-going Conference of the Parties (COP 28) held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE). She said the urgency for fostering clean cooking fuel is rooted from the fact that as of today, 80 per cent of Sub-Saharan Africa’s households use wooden biomass energy which has adverse impact on the environment and health.
Dr Samia expounded that such a portion of wooden biomass energy use has been culminating in deforestation amounting to 3.9 million hectares of forest between 2010 and 2020 in Africa, a situation that retards the continent’s efforts on cutting carbon emission (CO2).
Dr Samia said the wooden biomass energy has also been leading to women and girls’ health problems after a prolonged inhalation of thick fumes from firewood, saying it is from this ground that the AWCCSP is designed to solve the problems pertaining to loss of biodiversity.
“We decided to launch this programme to show our own commitment to mitigations, we want to show that even though our emission levels are relatively low, we will also act and deliver,”. “Clean cooking energy is about mitigation, women empowerment and welfare. Women and girls bear the brunt of lack of sustainable energy cooking solutions” Dr Samia stressed.
The AWCCSP is a three-year initiative aimed at addressing critical gender, environmental, health and economic challenges faced by women and girls in Africa due to traditional cooking methods. The estimated funding required for AWCCSP is 2.0 billion US dollars per year, focusing on securing support from governments, private sector partnerships, philanthropic donations and foundation. — NNN-DAILYNEWS
