In Cameroon just like in other parts of Africa a vast majority of the populations cook meals with the three stone fireside, stoves or open fires. These stoves and fires use either biomass fuels such as wood, branches, twigs or coal. The smoke emitted from such stoves is made up of particles and gaseous chemicals. The traditional stoves commonly used for burning biomass energy have long been found to emit huge quantities of smoke due to the incomplete combustion of fuels. This has had consequences on the environment, since intense collection of fuel wood has resulted in deforestation in most areas in Cameroon. The cutting down of trees for fuel wood has been one of the main drivers of deforestation in Cameroon for decades now; given that 70% of Cameroonians cannot afford gas and depend on fuel wood to cook. 83% of the Cameroon population uses solid fuels for cooking and 73.5% of this percentage use wood for cooking (International Energy Association).
The status quo in the South west and Littoral Regions however began changing following the introduction of an environmental friendly cooking stove by a local NGO, Pro Climate International which uses as much as five times less the quantity of fuel wood to prepare a meal compared to the open fires Cameroonians have been used to.
