The Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC) Foundation is stepping up environmental conservation efforts through a clean cooking initiative targeting forest-adjacent communities in partnership with Vivo Energy Kenya.
The programme seeks to reduce dependence on firewood and charcoal among communities living near mangrove forests, helping to protect the environment while improving household health and livelihoods.
The initiative builds on KPC Foundation’s growing environmental footprint in Mombasa, where the Foundation has planted more than one million mangrove seedlings over the past six years, across 100 acres of degraded mangrove land along Tudor Creek in partnership with Bidii Creek Conservancy.
Tudor Creek is the biggest and the only forest in Mombasa. The creek starts from Fort Jesus to Rabai in the neighbouring Kilifi County. The creek has degraded mangrove areas due to human activities and urban development.
Mangroves play a crucial role in carbon sequestration by absorbing significant amounts of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases from the atmosphere and storing them in carbon-rich flooded soils for centuries.
To prevent communities from cutting down mangroves for fuel, thereby reversing conservation gains, KPC Foundation and Vivo Energy have rolled out a clean cooking initiative targeting vulnerable forest-adjacent households.
In the first phase, 90 households from Jomvu Kuu received six-kilogramme Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) kits comprising a gas cylinder, burner, grill and an initial gas refill to support the transition to cleaner, safer and environmentally sustainable cooking solutions.
The initiative comes at a time when the country is intensifying efforts to achieve the target of planting 15 billion trees by 2032.
It seeks to address the continued reliance on traditional cooking fuels such as firewood and charcoal, which are major contributors to indoor air pollution, deforestation and environmental degradation.
KPC Foundation Manager Rachel Gathoni said the programme is part of the Foundation’s broader environmental conservation agenda, which focuses on promoting clean energy adoption, biodiversity conservation and climate change response.
She noted that the project targets Community Forest Associations that have worked closely with the Foundation in mangrove restoration over the years.
The initiative, she explained, was conceived after it emerged that many households within the communities still relied on charcoal and firewood for cooking.
“We realised that one of the interventions within our environmental programme would be to introduce a transition initiative, where communities we work with in conservation also become champions and advocates for ending tree cutting and embracing clean energy,” said Gathoni.
She added that the use of LPG goes beyond environmental conservation and also contributes to improved public health.
“A lot of young children suffer from respiratory illnesses, while many deaths are linked to poor air quality. Prolonged exposure to smoke is also harmful to older people,” she said.
Gathoni further noted that LPG saves women time when preparing meals compared to charcoal or firewood, while also improving household health, economic well-being and environmental sustainability.
The KPC Foundation Manager commended the community for ensuring a high survival rate of the more than one million mangroves planted through active participation and adoption of conservation sections.
“Now we are transitioning our programme into a broader energy transition initiative. As we plant trees, we also want to ensure communities stop cutting firewood and using charcoal,” she said.
Vivo Energy Kenya Communications Manager Angela Munyua described LPG as safe, reliable and environmentally friendly.
“When communities adopt clean energy, they also help protect the environment. Trees remain standing to absorb carbon dioxide and help maintain clean air for all of us,” she said.
Bidii Creek Conservancy Chairman Ali Machicha said the initiative would help reduce the destruction of mangroves for charcoal burning and firewood.
“Even as we protect the mangroves, without providing communities with an alternative source of energy, the trees would still be cut down. In the past, there was massive destruction due to demand for firewood and charcoal,” said Machicha.
By Sadik Hassan
