Global alliance for clean cookstoves

The UN and other donor agencies have created the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves to scale-up the adoption of clean cookstoves in the developing world. Smoke from traditional cookstoves causes 1.9 million deaths annually, mostly women and children, and millions more suffer from chronic lung diseases as a result of cooking over open fires on a daily basis. “Black carbon” emissions are also a major contributor to global warming.

UN Foundation CEO Kathy Calvin said that the UN Foundation is actively working with the US Department of State, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Shell Foundation, UN-Energy, the World Health Organization, the World Food Programme, and the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development to create a Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves to scale up the adoption of clean cookstoves in the developing world.

Following are excerpts from the testimony of Kathy Calvin; CEO, United Nations Foundation before the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on International Organizations, Human Rights, and Oversight on "Achieving the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs):

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for calling today’s hearing on the Millennium Development Goals and for inviting the United Nations Foundation to testify. Your leadership in support of American efforts to battle extreme poverty and illness in the developing world and to support the United Nations and UN programs is greatly appreciated.

Let me briefly discuss some of the public-private partnerships being implemented by the United Nations Foundation, not because ...they are the only examples, but because it is what we know how to do best. Our initiatives are designed to support the MDGs by ending easily-preventable malaria deaths, reducing child mortality through immunization, promoting opportunities for adolescent girls in the developing world, introducing modern information and communications technologies, rallying key partners in support of maternal health, and promoting access to clean energy...

...Another innovative approach to partnerships is to create a coalition of partners with a common goal. According to the World Health Organization, smoke from traditional cookstoves causes 1.9 million deaths annually, mostly women and children, and millions more suffer from chronic lung diseases as a result of cooking over open fires on a daily basis. “Black carbon” emissions are also a major contributor to climate change, and women are often put at risk of violence in the search for wood and other fuels. Adoption and deployment of clean and efficient cooking stoves and fuels must be a major priority for the global community.

In response, the UN Foundation is actively working with the U.S. Department of State, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Shell Foundation, UN-Energy, the World Health Organization, the World Food Programme, and the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development to create a Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves to scale up the adoption of clean cookstoves in the developing world.

By establishing standards for cleaner stoves, funding health and climate research, and spurring innovative financing mechanisms, the Alliance will seek to bring about a sustainable cookstove industry that can reach an additional 100 million households – roughly 20 percent of the affected population – with clean and efficient stoves and fuels by 2020. This is a rare and exciting opportunity to improve public health (addressing MDGs 4, 5, and 6) and mitigate climate change (MDG 7, ensuring environmental sustainability)...