ENERGY-CHAD: A Solution to Deforestation That Some Also View as a Problem

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Michaël Didama

N'DJAMENA, Apr 2 2007 (IPS) - It’s affordable, and central to stopping deforestation in Chad. But, butane gas has a long way to go before it becomes a household staple in this Sahelian country: many Chadians have a fixed belief that gas is simply too dangerous to use.

“I have forbidden the use of gas in my home because it causes accidents that are often fatal,” says Narcisse Laldjim, a journalist and member of the Chadian Environmental Journalists Network (Réseau des journalistes Tchadiens pour l’environnement).

He points to the death of Maurice Laoukoura, the owner of a bar in Benoye, southern Chad, who was incinerated in July 1999 while trying to light a gas stove.

“I acknowledge that gas can be a solution to the destruction of forests, but it is too dangerous and I have small children at home,” observes Laldjim.

There are no official statistics on the number of gas-related accidents to have occurred in Chad.

But, this hasn’t stopped Marcelline Nodjilembaye, an assistant accountant at the office of the United Nations Development Programme in Chad’s capital, N’Djamena, from changing to another energy source for her cooking.

“Since the death of that business woman from Moundou, I no longer want to use gas,” she says, in reference to the demise in 2000 of Bibiane Koumando, a business woman who died in a gas explosion. Koumando suffered third degree burns in her kitchen, also while attempting to light a gas stove.

“It will be difficult to make Chadians accept gas, after everything that has happened,” notes Nodjilembaye.

Statistics from the local office of the World Bank bear out this assertion. According to these figures, only four percent of Chadian households use gas at present; the rest rely on charcoal or firewood. This means that about 730,000 tonnes of wood are needed each year in N’Djamena alone, which has more than a million residents, something that is leading to steady deforestation.

Still, there are some who are swimming against the tide. Amina Klingar, a computer specialist in N’Djamena, is one of them. “I have always used gas because it saves me time and money,” she says.

A 12 kilogramme cylinder of gas, which costs 24 dollars at government-subsidised prices in N’Djamena – or even 18 dollars across the border in Kousseri, Cameroon – lasts for upwards of four months, observes Klingar.

This compares favourably to the cost of charcoal. A four-month supply of this energy source would cost Klingar between 72 and 96 dollars, depending on the season.

Jérémie Odering Goulaye, Chad’s environment minister for the past decade, has tried to compel citizens to use gas, even having road blocks set up at all entrances to the capital at one point to prevent charcoal makers and woodcutters from selling their goods in the city. Officials seized the firewood and charcoal loads that were discovered.

However, unscrupulous representatives from the water and forestry department later sold the confiscated wood and charcoal on the black market, which undermined the effectiveness of the operation to a great extent.

For Mouimou Djekoré, a lecturer and researcher at the Regional Centre for Training in the Environment and Combating Desertification (Centre régional de formation en environnement et lutte contre la désertification) in Sarh, southern Chad, putting a halt to demand is more effective than blocking supply.

“If Chadians start using gas, the sellers of charcoal and firewood will stop trading by themselves, and the county will thus be saved from desertification,” he notes.

Government has also started the National Gas Programme (Programme national gaz, PNG) to convince people to make the switch to gas.

A PNG team previously conducted meetings across the country to promote gas use, and to demonstrate meaures that make use of the product safe. But, this campaign was stopped two years ago because of lack of funds, says PNG co-ordinator Hamat Haffadine.

Use of gas isn’t inherently dangerous, and most accidents are caused by inadequate safety measures. Often, the valve of a gas stove is not closed properly, causing a leakage that then catches alight.