Former Director of Sunitya Energy Authority, Executive Director of Integrated Development Association (IDEA) R.M. Amarasekara said that 70 percent of the country’s population still uses firewood for cooking, and one million tons of firewood is used in the country in a year. (Sri Lanka Latest News)
He said this at a workshop held at the JR Jayawardene Center Auditorium Colombo 07.
The workshop was organized by Integrated Development Association (IDEA) and Sunity Energy Authority.
The executive director also said that Sri Lanka is not a poor country in terms of energy, wood does not cost foreign exchange like oil and gas, and because wood is renewable it is not a depleting resource.
The World Health Organization has revealed that about two million women and children in the world die every year due to illnesses caused by kitchen wood smoke air pollution. The use of improved wood stoves is very important to reduce the negative effects caused by the use of wood, and although one person needs to use 1.65 kg of wood per day using the traditional wood stove, the wood used for the improved wood stoves is 820 grams. The executive director said that it is about.
He said that forests are not cleared due to the use of firewood, forests are cleared due to the development process.
