Puntland bans firewood for cooking to combat environmental degradation

Garowe-(Puntland Mirror) Somalia’s Puntland region has banned firewood for cooking, according to a directive posted by the Ministry of Environment, Range, and Climate Change on its Facebook page.

“From today, February 17, 2025, the Ministry of Range and Climate Change has banned the trading of firewood after evaluating its impact on the environment, especially the forests that were damaged by collecting firewood,” the ministry said in the statement.

“The ministry has observed that if the collecting of firewood continues, Puntland will turn into a desert as trees are rapidly disappearing from the environment. Therefore, the ministry issues a stern warning to anyone involved in firewood collection, regardless of their location in Puntland.”

In Puntland and across Somalia, the majority of people, especially low-income households, rely on charcoal and firewood for cooking, while a few use cooking gas, which is more expensive compared to firewood and charcoal.

A 2020 World Bank environmental analysis revealed that 58 percent of Somali households (approximately 1.4 million households) use firewood for cooking. With an estimated daily usage rate of 3 kilograms of wood per family, the yearly consumption of wood totals 1.5 million tons across Somalia, resulting in the emission of 2.7 million tons of CO2.

Somalia has been witnessing environmental degradation, soil erosion, and desertification, which can be attributed to human activities such as overgrazing, tree cutting for firewood and charcoal production, and poorly designed agronomic practices.