Tanzania sets January 2025 as deadline for using charcoal, firewood

Dodoma. The government has set January 31, 2025, as the deadline for the use of charcoal and firewood by institutions.

The move is part of efforts to stop the use of energy sources that are hazardous to the health of individuals and the environment.

Data produced by the Ministry of Energy in Dar es Salaam last year showed that, despite being largely considered to be cheaper options, charcoal, firewood, and crop residues were having profoundly detrimental impacts on people’s health, causing up to 33,000 deaths annually.

The population of households using clean cooking energy in Tanzania stands at between 4.5 and eight percent.

It is against this background that the minister of State in the Vice President’s Office (Union and Environment), Dr Seleman Jafo, said here yesterday that more than 46,960 hectares of forests, equivalent to 26 percent of Tanzania’s landmass, get destroyed every year due to the felling of trees for firewood and charcoal.

He thus ordered all institutions that serve not less than 100 people to stop using firewood and charcoal by January 31, 2024, while those institutions serving people whose numbers start at 200 will have to stop using the energy source on January 31, 2025.

“According to the available statistics, it is estimated that 16 percent of the land has been destroyed and could turn into a desert because of illegal charcoal and firewood activities,” said Dr Jafo.

He said the energy from firewood is widely used because it is easier to obtain and many people can afford it, unlike other energy sources such as electricity and gas.

However, the minister said despite its affordability, the use of firewood and charcoal affects the health of the user by causing diseases after inhaling poisonous gases that affect the lungs and heart and cause respiratory diseases in children.

He said the government has laid out a strategy to reduce those effects by preparing a National Vision for the Use of Clean Energy for Cooking and a Strategic Plan for the Implementation of the Vision for a period of ten years until 2033.

“With the authority given to me under Section 13 of the Environmental Management Act, Chapter 191, I impose a ban on all public and private institutions in Mainland Tanzania that prepare food and feed more than 100 people per day to stop the use of firewood and charcoal by January 31, 2024,” he noted.

“I also impose a ban on institutions that prepare food and feed more than 300 people per day to stop using firewood and charcoal by January 31, 2025,” ordered Dr Jafo.

The minister also directed gas and stove firms to use the ban as an opportunity to meet the expected growing demand.