Zhejiang’s Ecological Revitalization — The End Goal of Popularizing Clean Cookstoves Across Africa and Developing Countries

Right before a violent thunderstorm last night, a rarely seen bright green cicada landed on my balcony window. This unexpected little guest from nature brought back decades of vivid memories of environmental changes.

Green cicadas are extremely sensitive to living environments: fertile soil, dense forests, clean air and appropriate humidity are all essential for their survival. Over two decades ago, Zhejiang entered a period of booming economic expansion. Back then, woodlands were nowhere near as lush as they are today, and green cicadas were already scarcely seen. As industrialization and urbanization flourished across the province, I once feared these delicate creatures would vanish entirely from residential areas. I never expected to spot a green cicada right near my home, a sight that filled me with both surprise and heartfelt emotion.

The green cicada is far from the only wildlife making a comeback. Egrets, long-forgotten insects and wild birds have returned to Zhejiang’s rivers, wetlands and hills, and the recovery of local biodiversity is tangible to everyone. Many wonder: how did Zhejiang achieve rapid economic growth and substantial income growth for residents, while protecting its natural environment and balancing development with ecology?

The answer lies in the stark contrast between my childhood and modern rural life.

Back in 1997, when I was only eight years old, I hiked up the hills to collect firewood with my mother—a lifestyle identical to most rural families in Africa today. We walked 15 minutes to the foothills. I gathered fallen pine needles to ignite our traditional mud stove, while my mother cut enough firewood to last our whole week. During busy farming seasons, we had no extra time to collect wood every single day. At that time, every household relied on primitive earth stoves. Continuous over-logging left hills surrounding villages sparse and bare of greenery.

Today, everything has transformed completely.

With rising household incomes, local people have higher demands for a cleaner, better quality of life. Zhejiang launched targeted incentive programs to phase out outdated traditional mud stoves in non-remote villages, drastically cutting deforestation and smoke pollution. Those old stoves have become a nostalgic memory for generations born in the 80s and 90s.

Rural communities across Africa currently rely on the primitive three-stone fire cooking method, which consumes far more biomass fuel than the old mud stoves we used in Zhejiang decades ago and causes far more severe damage to forests.

Witnessing Zhejiang’s incredible turnaround from deforested hills to thriving wildlife habitats inspired me to proudly build my career around improved biomass clean cookstoves. We supply high-efficiency, low-emission stoves to Africa and other developing regions.

Affordable clean energy is the primary step to improve livelihoods and safeguard ecosystems, and improved biomass cookstoves represent the most practical optimal solution for rural communities in developing countries at this stage.

Distributing clean cookstoves free of charge imposes no financial burden on families. Yet these stoves drastically reduce the grueling daily firewood collection workload for women and children, lower health risks caused by indoor smoke pollution, comprehensively upgrade household well-being, and slow down deforestation to protect local biodiversity.

One tiny green cicada stands as living proof of a province’s ecological comeback. One compact clean cookstove carries tangible power for sustainable rural development worldwide. Economic growth, people’s well-being and environmental protection never have to be an either-or choice.

#CleanCookstoves #BiomassEnergy #SustainableRuralDevelopment #EcologicalRestoration #Biodiversity #AffordableCleanEnergy #AfricaLivelihoods