Another sustainability challenge we want to tackle, is to reduce deforestation for cooking fuel and construction. As a way to relief the pressure on the forests, we already distributed almost 21,000 sustainable clean cooking stoves in 2020. Read more about this project and how it has helped here. 

To continue this work, but also aiming for a more long-term solution, we started a bamboo plantation pilot. At the end of 2022, during the rainy season, we partnered with fourteen community members to plant 1900 bamboos.

In five years’ time, these bamboos can be harvested to replace trees for fuel and construction, while at the same time they reshoot themselves, creating a continues cycle. Already Mumbwa District Commissioner and the Minister of Green Economy and Environment have shown their interest. With a successful pilot, this can become an example for other regions in Zambia.