Household cooking technologies and REDD+: Pilot experiences in Tanzania and across the tropics

Abstract

Conserving forests and increasing energy efficiency are two key ways that developing regions can contribute to climate change mitigation. We examine whether and how initiatives to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+) affect household choice of cooking technology. We draw our evidence from household surveys in and around pilot REDD+ initiatives across the tropics, including two in Tanzania that promoted improved cookstoves as a way to reduce forest degradation. After controlling for confounding variables through propensity score matching and endogenous treatment-regression models, we find that the interventions in Tanzania did increase adoption of improved cookstoves, although the vast majority of households still cook on traditional three-stone fires. Across the tropics, we find that interventions to reduce deforestation and forest degradation are effective at encouraging LPG adoption, but interventions implemented in the context of REDD+ are not any more effective.