The Impact of Improve Cookstoves on Environmental Sustainability

Globally, over three billion people rely on burning biomass fuel, including firewood, charcoal, and agricultural residues for their daily cooking, in rudimentary or traditional stoves, on stones, over an open fire or metal platform (WHO, 2018;Stoner, et al. 2021;Jewitt et al. 2020).The use of firewood and charcoal for household cooking in Nigeria is estimated at 24,000,000 tons and 5,000,000 tons, respectively in 2021, the most consumed domestic fuel sources in Nigeria (Laska and Ige 2023).The unsustainable use of fuelwood, a major biomass fuel for cooking and heating in homes and small businesses globally is a major challenge especially in the global south (Ogeh, 2023;Dolor et al. 2023).According to the UNDP (2017), Nigeria's environment is highly vulnerable to the negative effects of the unsustainable environmental and natural resources management with over 70 percent of the more than 170 million inhabitants still relies on biomass fuel for cooking.This has resulted in cutting down of over half of the country's primary forest in the last 10 to 20 years.The growing demand for biomass fuel (wood and charcoal) and the preference for the highly inefficient traditional cookstove or wood-fueled three stone stoves (WFTSS) by a vast majority of the inhabitants have further exacerbated the situation, leading to a systemic diminishing fuelwood supply, deforestation and de-vegetation on a regional and national scale (Orimoogunje and Asifat, 2015; Ohwo and Nzekwe-Ebonwu, 2021).In Africa, over 80% of the population especially in the rural areas relies on solid biomass for cooking (Abanikaanda and Dantani, 2021) and only 11% make use of improved cookstoves.Abstractst Most Nigerian households depend on fuelwood for cooking, which contributes significantly to environmental degradation.To mitigate this menace, adoption of improved cookstoves (ICSs) which reduce/prevent fuelwood usage for cooking in view of environmental sustainability is needed.The study assessed impact of ICSs on environmental sustainability.Multistage sampling was adopted to collect data from 428 households in Delta State through structured questionnaire.Likert scale analyzed household level of awareness and perception of ICSs.Logistic regression examined determinant of Willingness to Pay (WTP) for ICSs.Most respondents were within the age bracket of 21 -40 years (57.6%) with secondary education (38.2%), had medium sized households (4 -6 household members) (47.2%), and traders with income ranging within ₦185,000 -₦284,999 (41.0%).About 62.7% utilize fuelwood for energy with X =2.9±0.08 being aware of the different types of ICSs from neighbors (74.4%).Respondents were aware of benefits of ICSs with means of various benefits above 2. Respondents' perception about ICSs was high with ICSs less bulky to traditional stove (3.7±0.04).Respondents' level of adoption of ICSs was high for clay mould Garri fryer (3.9±0.48),traditional cookstoves (3.7±0.09) and clay mould cooking stoves (2.4±0.34).Respondents do not have access to ICSs (92.2%) and credit (96.7%) with 61.1% and 81.0%WTP ₦6,000 ($4.04) and ₦3,000 ($2.02) respectively for purchase of ICSs.The significant determinants of WTP for improved cookstoves are educational qualification, household size, income level and type of ICSs.Synergy between intervention programme implementers and existing governmental agencies is needed to provide more targeted subsidies and credit options in order to address the barrier of availability and affordability of ICSs.