ISLAMABAD - Minister of State for Climate Change Zartaj Gul  on Thursday launched the Clean Energy Efficient Cooking Stove project aiming to sustainable forest management and promoting climate-friendly cooking in the country at Chawan Forest Rest House, Karore, Dhanyal Road Rawalpindi.

The project fuel efficient stoves was started by Ministry of Climate Change in collaboration with United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

The minister distributed stoves among 100 households of the area for demonstration purposes would cause saving of 5,011 to 5,846 metric ton of wood and reduction of 7,617 to 8,686 metric tons CO2, said a press release issued here.

Addressing the ceremony, she said that adoption of these stoves would help to save forest from degradation, reduce deforestation and contribute into mitigation of negative impacts caused by changes in climate, adding that it would also protect eyes and lungs from smoke through using the wood in conventional and reduce cost and timing of cooking. 

The minister said that it was not the first time to distribute the fuel efficient stoves, the project has already distributed 300 fuel efficient stoves in 2019 in the same landscape in Punjab. 

She said that the  objective of the Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) was to promote sustainable forest management in Pakistan’s western Himalayan temperate coniferous forests in Khyber Pakthunkhwa, sub-tropical broadleaved evergreen thorn (scrub) and Chir Pine Forests in Punjab Riverine Forests in Sindh for biodiversity conservation, mitigation of climate change and securing of forests ecosystem services. 

“In particular, it aims at implementation of three inter-related and mutually complementary components that were focused at addressing the barriers of inadequate planning, regulatory and institutional frameworks to integrated forest resource management and the limited experience among key government and civil society stakeholders in developing and implementing SFM practices on the ground”, she added.

According to Ministry of Climate change, the project has three major components, the first one to supports the incorporation of sustainable management objectives and safeguards in forest management planning, forestland allocation and compliance of monitoring systems at the local level. 

The second component was to identify, demarcates and implements on the ground approaches to improving management of high conservation value forests within seven landscapes covering an area of 67,861  with the aim of meeting the life requisites of the target species and habitats such as breeding areas, feeding areas, water resources, dispersal and connectivity corridors etc. 

The third component was to develop practical approaches to enhancing carbon sequestration through restoring degraded and former forested areas by a combination of restoration and deforestation of 10,005 ha of degraded conifer forests, 3,400 ha of degraded scrub forests and reforestation of 13,099 ha of Riverine forests with native species. 

SFM project demonstrated different interventions to educate the public about the conservation of forest and wildlife resources, built capacity of the people and staff of the government line departments for contributing towards mitigating the negative impacts of climate change in the country. 

The project itself was not able to address all the problems facing by the people but it can disseminate the lessons learned from the actions carried out to the public and government through practical demonstrations to upscale and replicate those accordingly.