UNDP trains Cross River women on forest conservation

In a bid to conserve the forest, check negative climate change and smoke related diseases, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) last weekend trained 520 women in Cross River state on the construction of energy-saving wood-cook stove.

The five days training programme which was funded by United Nations Reducing Emission from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (UN-REDD), in collaboration with Small Grants Programme, (SGP), Global Environment Facility, (GEF) through the UNDP with Wanel-aedon Development Association as the facilitators was for women in Ukuromotet community in Obubra Local Government Area of the state.

Secretary of the association, Mrs. Joy Ogar said apart from reducing the usage of firewood by 40 per cent, it would also reduce the smoke related diseases that have shortened the life span of most women and girls using fire wood to cook in the rural areas.

Stressing on the health and forest conserving benefits, Ogar said,“this innovation of cooking stove will help reduce smoke related diseases and mortality amongst women and girls.

“Training of 520 persons will focus mostly on women and girls. When they are through with the training, the association will provide them with the materials to construct the energy saving wood-stove in each of their kitchens”.

She said the association had identified these issues and that was why they came up with the idea of training the community on how to construct a wood- stove that would absolve the smoke into the air through a pipe.

Ogar, explained that the 520 trainees which would be in five badges would not only be trained, but each house hold would benefit from the local materials used for making the wood-stove.

One of the beneficiaries, Mrs. Maria Oguniyaya , said, “this will help us a lot because most of the women in this community are having eye problem and some of them have lost their sights due to the smoke while using firewood to cook. We use firewood because we do not know any other way and most of us cannot afford to buy the kerosene cooking stoves.

But now that we are leaning how to make this new stove, I believe most of our problem and we will not have to suffer from smoke related diseases anymore.