Environmental activists have expressed concern over reliance on firewood for cooking or heating in refugee camps. The issue, they contended, poses risk to both the environment and people’s health.

The United Nations Environment Programme’s ‘Action on Air Quality’ report launched during the second session of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) in Kenya in May, stated that air pollution- both indoor and outdoor- remains a major challenge in Africa.

"About 600,000 deaths occur every year across the continent are associated with this invisible killer. With 23 per cent of global deaths (12.6 million) linked to environmental factors, WHO (the World Health Organisation) estimates that air pollution is responsible for 7 million deaths every year, the report says.

According to International Migration Report 2015, the total number of refugees in the world was estimated at 19.5 million in 2014.

UNHCR says that Sub-Saharan Africa hosts more than 26 per cent of the world’s refugee population. Over 18 million people, of whom some 4.4 million are refugees and 9.8 million Internally Displaced People in this region, are of concern to the UNHCR in 2016.

Desiré Mapendana, Coordinator of Action d’Appui au Développement Endogène (ASADE), a Non-Governmental Organisation for development through the utilization of natural resources in the Democratic Republic of Congo, said UNHCR gives 15 kilogrammes of firewood to the refugees but they are no measures for replacing those 15 kilogrammes as no trees are grown to recover the consumed ones.

 "Again, there are no strategies to measure the amount of gases produced by [firewood used for] cooking and protect refugees against those emissions.

He said the humanitarian agencies argue that their budgets are very limited to respond to the issue.

The UNHCR’s global budget for 2015 was estimated to $7b as at 30 June 2015, while its proposed budgets for 2016 and 2017 amount to slightly over $6b respectively.

Mapendana, who was speaking on Thursday during the eighth Africa Carbon Forum held in Kigali, also said: "Private enterprises produce technologies which could help as alternative cooking fuel, but the vulnerable peasants cannot afford them.

"A solar panel costs $40, yet there are poor peasants who live on less than $1 [per day],” adding that there is need to consider ways those people can access resilient technologies which would be able to tackle climate change.

"I would like to propose that the humanitarian agencies should be supported in all projects to help refugees or displaced people in camps so that they take into consideration gas emissions,” Mapendana said.

Need for measures to address the issue

In the ‘Light Years Ahead Innovative Technology For Better Refugee Protection,’ a publication made by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in 2012 stated that wood consumption in and around refugee camps greatly exceeds natural replenishment.

"Deforestation is rampant. As refugees walk increasing distances to find fire wood, environmental degradation spreads. The traditional cooking stove used by most refugees consumes 667 kg of firewood per year,” it said.

The publications said the ‘Save80 stainless steel stove’ which reduces firewood use by 80%, costs US$72 (Rwf53,000) each, potentially sparing 100,000 metric tons of firewood per year and reducing the deforestation trend around refugee camps.

The United States Ambassador to Rwanda, Erica J. Barks-Ruggles, said they were working on how to help communities access clean energy whereby people can pay Rwf14,000 for a solar panel in installments. 

"We want to bring the technologies in the community under subsidy,” she said.

The Minister for Natural Resources, Dr. Vincent Biruta noted that we cannot afford to cut trees when there is no plan to replant; it was not sustainable. 

"We need clean and efficient energy, so in the approach we are using, we need to consider all these aspects including how to ensure that energy saving technologies are accessible and affordable to the people,” he said.

Rwanda’s forests cover 695,795 hectares (about 29.3%) of the country’s total land area. Over 258,000 hectares are natural forests and savannah (i.e. 38% of total forest land or 11% of the country). 

These statistics imply that the country is about to meet its target to have 30% of its area covered by forests in 2020.

Daniele Violetti, Chief of Staff of the Secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) said when there is a humanitarian crisis, priority goes to the well-being of people. 

"But, all these policies and activities in protecting these people can go hand in hand with environmental protection. So, if trees have to be cut to allow the survival of the people, which is understandable, they should also come together with policies to replace them,” he, said adding that the United Nations has clear plan to find energy efficient solutions. 

The International Energy Agency (IEA) sates that some 653 million Africans, or about 80% of all African households, relied on fuel wood as their main source of energy for basic needs such as heating and cooking in 2009.

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