The Smart Villages workshop in Myanmar forms part of our regional engagement in Southeast Asia. The workshop brought together key stakeholders engaged in the cookstove value chain in the region.
In many developing countries, energy for cooking needs accounts for the largest share of total energy consumption and is normally met by using biomass as fuel. There are almost 3 billion globally who do not have access to clean cooking facilities and continue to depend on traditional cookstoves or on open fires to meet their cooking and heating needs. Most of these people are based in rural areas. The continued dependence on traditional cookstoves contributes to a number of negative economic, social and environmental impacts.
In Southeast Asia, almost half of the population continues to rely on biomass using traditional cookstoves for their cooking needs, although there is substantial variation between countries. Across the region, the dependence on biomass is substantially higher in rural areas as compared to urban areas.
This workshop aims to glean insights from the experience of relevant stakeholder across the region involved in projects focusing on developing and disseminating improved cookstoves.
