Cooking with the sun

In the meantime, at the COP26 Climate Summit in Glasgow, policymakers discuss how to reduce emissions, we continue to do so with our mountain communities. We recently received short videos and photographs from the village of Ravmed in the Bartang Valley (Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region, Tajikistan), which show that families are actively using the equipment provided to them.

For example, in a video made at the end of October, one can observe how one of the villagers prepares lunch with the help of the solar parabolic cooker and expresses gratitude for the devices received.

“If earlier we paid 40-50 somoni for electricity, now the costs have dropped to 15-20 somoni. Now [with the help of the solar cooker] we are preparing food, shirchoy (milk tea) and other dishes,” he says.

Solar cookers are affordable and reliable devices that run on solar energy. They can be used to cook food and boil water. They help reduce fuel consumption (such as firewood), save families money, and reduce pressure on ecosystems.