Energy
The County Government of Nyeri is popularizing the use of energy saving cookers across the 30 wards, as part of mitigation measures against the ravages of climate change.
Under the Financing Locally Led Climate Action Program ((FLLoCA), the County through the Department of Water, Environment, and Climate Change has supplied the fuel efficient jikos to 29 ECDE learning institutions, within the last two years.
The Department intends to cascade this information to the communities, especially among vulnerable and low income earning families to enable them adopt cookers that not only consume less fuel but also emit less smoke. This initiative was arrived at last year during the participatory Climate Risk Assessment Change (PCRA) forums, to identify climate change risks in each locality and come-up with workable mitigation and adaptation measures.
“The energy saving jikos programme. is to ensure there is environmental conservation and protection through reduction in reliance on fuelwood and ultimately sustainable forest management. When you visit most homes, they are using the traditional three-stone hearth and you know these have other effects that leads to air pollution,” Nyeri County Climate Change Director Yvonne Mathenge told KNA.
“So as it is right now, we want to save on the amount we use on fuel wood as well as help in improving the health of the person who is working around that space,” She adds. Ms Mathenge says compared with other traditional jikos, the new cookers have been found to conserve heat up to 95 per cent owing to the material used and few ventilators on the equipment.
However individual users are at liberty to choose the type of fuel to use depending on the availability and affordability of each. She says the majority of learning institutions they have visited are either using wood fuel but a number of others have switched to charcoal pellets, sawdust and briquettes.
“When we did the participatory climate risk assessment (PCRA), one of the things that the community came-up with as a strategy is adoption of energy saving jikos at the household levels. At the ward committee level during our barazas residents said they felt these measures were something worth taking up. We want to improve the lives of those who are vulnerable first because this has been highlighted in the PCRA report,” she stated.
The energy-saving jikos have been developed with cutting-edge technology and designed to use less fuel compared to traditional cooking methods. This results in significant savings for schools, as well as a reduction in deforestation and pollution.
Each jiko is built to be durable and efficient, ensuring that the benefits extend over the long term. The county launched PCRA forums in 2023 in all the 30 wards to identify existing climate change risks and hazards in each locality to help come up with workable mitigation and adaptation measures.
At the time the Department of Water, Environment and Climate Change had already conducted PCRA meetings in all the 30 wards. There were a total of 20 members who formed part of the ward climate change committee members including representatives from interest groups, community group members, government officers, and private organizations.
Deliberations arrived at in those meetings were to be consolidated into a common document that would form the basis of the County’s Climate Action Plan. The plan was intended to among others highlight the programs and projects that will be prioritized as far as dealing with climate change was concerned.