95% of schools in Uganda still use firewood for all of their cooking activities, as per the latest figures released by the Uganda Bureau of Standards.

The sources from that firewood is still a debate. Uganda’s over-reliance on traditional biomass for cooking is a tragic indicator that the country is trapped in environmental degradation. According to the National Environment Management Authority, every year 2,6% of local forests are cut down for firewood, charcoal, agricultural use and to make way for the rapid population growth.

Schools are massive contributors to such alarming figures, taking into account there are 22,000 schools in the country and an average of 240 kilograms of firewood is consumed per person per year.

With the introduction of the energy efficient institutional improved cook stoves, a minimum of 50% firewood savings are achieved when transitioning from the traditional cooking practices of 3-stone fire places. These savings can also be increased when schools are introduced to behavior changes of firewood storage, which again can increase savings a further 20%, managing firewood purchases and storage efficiently to achieve the maximum energy content.