BRING “CLEAN” COOKSTOVES TO PEOPLE

On 12 April 2016, in Ha Noi, the Ministry of Science and Technologies (MOST) coordinated with the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves and the Netherlands Development Organization (SNV) held Vietnam Stakeholder Consultation and Strategic Planning Workshop: Toward the general vision on industry and national demands. The workshop was attended by delegates, scientists, managers of Vietnam and international organizations…

The workshop is the important start to prepare the strategy and plan for the action plan of the clean cookstoves and fuels in Vietnam in the next stage. At the workshop, dedicates openly shared precious information, knowledge and experience on using clean fuels for a modern, sustainable agriculture in Vietnam and many world countries.

Ms, Dagmar Zwebe, SNV representative, said that in Vietnam the rate of people using solid fuels for cooking accounts for 70%; about 1/3 of Vietnam population is still using traditional cookstoves and all of them have no brand. Though cookstoves using alternative fuels and recyclable fuels have started attaining stands in Vietnam but their market penetration is still low. The exposure to smoke from traditional cookstoves has affected over 58 million people due to indoor air pollution, cause 23,800 deaths each year, including 2,000 children.

Workshop view

According to Ms, Dagmar Zwebe, the most populous barriers to using cookstoves now include prepaid expenses for advanced cookstoves as well as the receipt of money support to such buy cookstoves. Many consumers like to use LPG or other clean fuels but they are still in doubt about the supply. Additionally, consumers do not know issues related to traditional cookstoves or are not aware of alternative choices.

Hence, the transfer from traditional cookstoves into clean cookstoves and fuels will help people away from exposure to toxic smoke, less burns, and decrease expenses and time for fuel gathering, decrease emissions of green house gas and forest deterioration…

The CEO of the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, Radha Muthiah said, the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves is a public-private partner relation idea under development with 300 non-government organizations, universities, company leaders and organizations of the UN, aiming at establishing a market to provide comfortable and non-polluting cookstoves to developing countries, with the ambition to reach the target of encouraging the use of clean and effective cookstoves at 100 million households by 2020.

Related to clean cookstoves, since the 70s of the previous century, Vietnam government has paid attention to and implemented many projects, one of the typical ones during 70s-90s of the previous century is for cookstoves using beehive coal, advanced tea drying furnaces, and cookstoves using biogas.

Vietnam has officially become a member of the Alliance in 12/2011. This was also an active and commitment step in striving to be a sustainable development country.