An estimated 61,240 sacks of charcoal, equivalent to 380 hectares of forest cover are supplied to the City of Kigali every week, according to official figures, fuelling fears of deforestation.
"The figures are alarming and suggest how we are approaching desertification if the status quo remains,” said Jeanne d'Arc Mujawamariya, the Minister of Environment.
She was, on Friday, November 27, addressing a consultative meeting on how to shift from firewood and charcoal to clean cooking energy solutions such as Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), biogas and electricity.
To put the issue into context, the Minister said that the charcoal supplied in the City of Kigali in a year is produced at huge cost on the environment.
The session held in Kigali brought together different stakeholders from public institutions and the private sector including hotels, restaurants, schools and correctional services among others.
Mujawamariya said that the estimates on charcoal use in Kigali were produced through an assessment that was carried out this year during the Covid-19 period [in July] by the Ministry of Environment in partnership with Rwanda Forest Authority and the National Police.
It was intended to have the baseline numbers of charcoal consumption in Kigali to inform decision making.
According to Jean-Pierre Mugabo, the Director-General of Rwanda Forestry Authority, the City of Kigali accounts for 72 per cent of the total charcoal used in the entire country, pointing out that if the consumption of charcoal is reduced in Kigali, it will be a significant contribution towards saving the environment.
The Minister said that 10 years ago, Rwanda had a target to have 30 per cent of its territory covered by forests by 2020, a target that it has slightly surpassed as its forest cover is 30.4 per cent of its surface.
However, she said that if the current trend in deforestation for charcoal and firewood continues, the environment protection gains made will be eroded.
Inefficient charcoal production technique
The Minister said that considering the methods through which Rwandans produce charcoal, only 30 per cent of the charcoal produce is obtained, suggesting that 70 per cent of the trees burned to generate it is lost.
Mugabo said that the threats to deforestation are excessive exploitation of the forests such as for firewood and charcoal without rotation, and within a short time where young forests are also cut.
"The demand for charcoal and firewood is always high compare to the supply,” he said.
Meanwhile, Minister Mujawamariya said that the Ministry is in a tree-planting campaign in line with reforestation to restore the degraded land where some mountainous areas are bare.
Rwanda targets to reduce the number of households depending on firewood as a source of energy for cooking from 79.9 per cent in 2017 to 42 per cent by 2024.