The project aims to promote eco-friendly, alternate energy sources among rural households and small businesses through training, awareness and dissemination of 525 gasifiers units using agro-waste as fuel - a low-cost, simple, user-friendly yet clean source of energy for cooking with great potential for wider dissemination among rural communities where different agro-wastes are available in abundance.
The project is being carried out through multiple field activities in central Punjab, South Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa through capacity-building workshops, on-site demonstration of agro-waste gasifiers and distribution of gasifier units among rural families and small businesses.
Through this project, 525 rural and farming families, small culinary businesses and 20 local vendors/technicians are being facilitated. More than 44 fabricators/local technicians have been trained on gasifier fabrication procedure and its technical specification.
WWF-P Director General Hammad Naqi Khan said that with this partnership they have an opportunity to promote renewable energy technologies, particularly harnessing the true potential of agro-waste, in order to ensure that the rural and less privileged areas of the country keep pace with the growing energy demands in a sustainable manner.
"This project will not only improve rural livelihoods by ensuring access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and clean energy but will also help in promoting environmental stewardship and encourage climate change mitigation," he added.
Speaking on the occasion, Farrukh Majeed, General Manager at Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) SNGPL, said, "We, as an organisation, are committed to conserving and protecting the environment. To achieve this purpose, we have worked with WWF-P in the past and will continue to work with the organization in future."
"Recognizing the measures being taken by WWF-P in tackling the catastrophic impacts of climate change, we will promote activities to protect and preserve the environment. Conservation is at the heart of SNGPL's Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) policy."
The project team also visited the tree plantation site. The provision of agro-waste gasifiers to communities was directly linked with tree plantation to foster environmental stewardship among rural communities.
Therefore, more than 1,680 trees have been planted by the communities where the gasifiers were distributed. The project team has also launched awareness campaign among rural school girls of the project area educating them about alternative energy solutions. More than 600 students received training and participated in the plantation activity.