Scaling Clean Cooking Around Chitwan National Park
Project Overview
Climate Action Nepal (ClimAx), with support from KAS Political Dialogue Asia, is advancing clean cooking solutions for families living around Chitwan National Park. The initiative responds to the interconnected challenges of fuelwood dependence, forest pressure, indoor air pollution, extreme heat, women’s unpaid work, and the risk of human-wildlife encounters during firewood collection.
Following an earlier distribution of 20 electric stoves to Bote community households, the project provided 20 additional infrared electric stoves on 22 June 2026 to families that had relied exclusively on firewood. The programme has now supported 40 households with cleaner, safer and easier cooking options.
The initiative has been implemented in two complementary phases, moving from an initial demonstration with Bote households to a wider scale-up among exclusively firewood-dependent families in the park’s buffer-zone landscape.
Earlier distribution: 20 Bote households – introduced clean electric cooking to a marginalized buffer-zone community and demonstrated household-level conservation benefits.
22 June 2026 scale-up: 20 additional families – provided infrared electric stoves to families previously dependent exclusively on firewood, bringing total project reach to 40 households.
Community and Institutional Participation
Participants included Mr Ujjwal Upadhyay, KAS-Climate Action Coordinator; Mr Bishnu B. Bhujel, Executive Member, Bharatpur Metropolitan City; Mr Bishnu Raj Mahato, Chair, Bharatpur Metropolitan City-22; Mr Tek Bahadur Ranabhat, Chair, Birendranagar Buffer Zone Community Forest; and representatives of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forests and Environment and the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation.
This initiative demonstrates how a localized climate solution can deliver several outcomes at once. Cleaner cooking reduces emissions and forest pressure, supports healthier homes, lowers women’s unpaid workload, improves safety near wildlife habitats and strengthens the resilience of communities living on the frontline of climate and conservation challenges.
Why This Project Matters
Why This Initiative Matters
Communities living in and around protected areas often depend on nearby forests for everyday energy. In the Chitwan National Park buffer zone, this dependence can increase pressure on forest ecosystems and wildlife habitats while exposing families-especially women and children-to smoke, heat, time burdens and potentially dangerous encounters with wildlife.
Forests, Biodiversity and Safety: Regular fuelwood extraction can disturb habitats and wildlife movement corridors. Entering forest areas also raises the risk of encounters with rhinoceros, elephants, tigers, bears and other wildlife.
Health, Gender and Heat Stress: Traditional cooking exposes households to smoke and high indoor temperatures. During extreme heat, local temperatures can exceed 100°F (about 38°C), and firewood cooking adds further heat inside kitchens while women carry much of the collection and cooking burden.
This initiative demonstrates how a localized climate solution can deliver several outcomes at once. Cleaner cooking reduces emissions and forest pressure, supports healthier homes, lowers women's unpaid workload, improves safety near wildlife habitats and strengthens the resilience of communities living on the frontline of climate and conservation challenges.
Climate and Energy: Supports a low-carbon transition by replacing part of household fuelwood demand with electric cooking and making use of Nepal's renewable electricity potential.
Forests and Wildlife: Reduces pressure on habitats and movement corridors around Chitwan National Park while supporting safer coexistence between communities and wildlife.
Health, Heat and Gender: Reduces smoke and indoor heat exposure, lowers the burden of firewood collection and creates more time for education, livelihoods and community participation.
Climate Justice and Resilience: Directs practical support to vulnerable buffer-zone families and shows how climate finance and partnerships can improve everyday dignity, security and wellbeing.
Project in Action
Photos from the field, events, and community activities.
What the Project Is Doing
- Reduce household dependence on fuelwood collected from forests around Chitwan National Park.
- Promote electric cooking powered by Nepal's largely hydropower-based electricity system.
- Improve indoor air quality and reduce smoke- and heat-related health risks.
- Reduce women's physical and time burdens associated with collecting and using firewood.
- Lower pressure on wildlife habitats and support safer human-wildlife coexistence.
- Demonstrate an integrated local solution linking climate action, conservation, health and dignity.
- Integrated pathway: clean energy access; reduced forest use; safer, healthier homes; conservation benefits.
- Target: prioritize families with high dependence on firewood and proximity to forests and wildlife habitats.
- Engage: coordinate with community institutions, local government and conservation stakeholders.
- Equip: provide stoves alongside practical orientation on safe use, care and efficient electric cooking.
- Sustain: encourage routine adoption, household follow-up and future monitoring of fuelwood and energy use.
- Two-phase scale-up from 20 Bote households to 40 total families on 22 June 2026.
- Recommended next steps: monitor stove use and fuelwood displacement; provide maintenance support; document smoke, heat and time savings; expand to additional high-priority households; explore financing models; link with women's livelihood programmes.
Impact at a Glance
Results Achieved
- Total project reach of 40 families with electric cooking stoves.
- 20 Bote households supported in earlier distribution phase.
- 20 additional infrared electric stoves provided on 22 June 2026 to exclusively firewood-dependent families.
- Cleaner indoor air and reduced exposure to cooking smoke.
- Lower indoor heat stress during extreme-temperature days.
- Less time and physical effort spent collecting and carrying firewood.
- Greater convenience, dignity and safety in everyday cooking.
- Reduced pressure on forest resources and wildlife habitats.
- Fewer household trips into forests and lower exposure to wildlife encounters.
- Lower greenhouse-gas emissions through cleaner energy use.
- Stronger community resilience and support for women's wellbeing.
- Community and institutional participation spanning local government, buffer-zone institutions and conservation agencies.
Long-term Value
Projected combined annual impact (estimates dependent on adoption and electricity reliability): approximately 280 tons CO2 emissions potentially reduced; 80-120 tons firewood potentially saved; 120-240 trees potentially protected.
This initiative demonstrates how a localized climate solution can deliver several outcomes at once. Cleaner cooking reduces emissions and forest pressure, supports healthier homes, lowers women's unpaid workload, improves safety near wildlife habitats and strengthens the resilience of communities living on the frontline of climate and conservation challenges.
Clean energy at household level can become a practical bridge between climate action, healthier families, women's empowerment, forest protection and biodiversity conservation.
Strategic value spans climate and energy transition, forests and wildlife protection, health, heat and gender benefits, and climate justice for vulnerable buffer-zone families.
Story of Change
“Clean cooking is not only about technology. It is about dignity, health, conservation, climate justice and safer lives at the household level.”