Urban Poverty & Climate Change in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania:

households) and gas (3 percent). Table 11 shows that the percentage of households using
electricity has not increased since 2001. Reasons given by various households for not using
electricity include: increased tariffs and the unreliability of electricity due to rationing of
power during dry seasons. The low adoption of gas for cooking is attributed to low awareness
(users still feel that gas can be risky, even though gas cookers have improved and explosions
are infrequent), and the fact that the prices of appliances that use gas are high for low-income
households. Most households (71 percent) combine more than one type of fuel such as
charcoal, firewood, kerosene, electricity and gas.
Scope for mitigation actions
From the climate change policy perspective as well as local benefits, Malimbwi and Zahabu
(2008) assess some measures that would reduce deforestation as well as exploit carbontrading
opportunities:
• Certain tree species yield more charcoal, focusing on these would reduce the amount
of ongoing deforestation.
• Charcoal efficient stoves (thermal efficiency of up to 70 percent, as opposed to up to
15 percent for traditional stoves) are also becoming more widely available, with
consequent increase in their uptake. However, these have lower durability.
• There is significant scope for improving the efficiency of kilns used in the charcoal
production process (increasing wood-charcoal efficiency from 19 percent to 30
percent).
Tables 12 (a) and (b) below show the difference in CO2 emissions that the above measures
could yield.
Table 12 (a) Estimation of carbon trading potential of improved charcoal production efficiency for
Dar es Salaam City
Bags Kiln Equivalent green Equivalent
per day efficiency wood weight green volume
(%) (tons/yr) m 3
Biomass Carbon CO2
(0.5 green (tons/yr) emissions
volume)
(tons/yr)
28759 19 3 051 481 3 589 978 1 794 989 897 494 3 293 805
28759 30 1 932 605 2 273 653 1 136 826 568 413 2 086 076
Table 12 (b) Estimation of carbon trading potential of improved charcoal consumption efficiency
for Dar es Salaam City
Bags Stove Equivalent green Equivalent
per day efficiency wood weight green volume
(%) (tons/yr) m 3
Biomass Carbon CO2
(0.5 green (tons/yr) emissions
volume)
(tons/yr)
28759 15 3 865 210 4 547 305 2 273 653 1136 826 4 172 153
28759 40 1 449 454 1 705 240 852 620 426 310 1 564 557
Source: Malimbwi and Zahabu (2008)
Dar es Salaam consumes about 50 percent of the total charcoal consumed in the country and,
according to Norconsult Tanzania Ltd. (2002), the resulting deforestation, woodland
degradation, habitat destruction, loss of biodiversity, environmental pollution and loss of
carbon sequestration potential taken together are equivalent to a loss equal to at least 2
percent of Tanzania’s gross domestic product. Charcoal combustion emits carbon monoxide
and nitrogen oxides. The smoke also includes particulates, formaldehyde and carcinogens,
and exposure can cause acute lower respiratory infections in children, chronic bronchitis or
chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in women, and other adverse health conditions (ibid.).
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