USA to provide $50M in seed money for launch of global clean cookstove campaign

We thought this item was too important to post in our News section.

You can expect updated reports and details on the plan later in the week. This is a great first step!

Read the story here:  http://j.mp/d0Sun3

By JOHN M. BRODER

Published: September 20, 2010

WASHINGTON —  On Tuesday, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is expected to announce a significant commitment to a group working to address the problem, with a goal of providing 100 million clean-burning stoves to villages in Africa, Asia and South America by 2020. The United States is providing about $50 million in seed money over five years for the project, known as the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves.

More than a dozen other partners, including governments, multilateral organizations and corporate sponsors, are to contribute an additional $10 million or more.

Mrs. Clinton called the problem of indoor pollution from primitive cookstoves a “cross-cutting issue” that affects health, the environment and women’s status in much of the world. “That’s what makes it such a good subject for a coordinated approach of governments, aid organizations and the private sector,” she said in a telephone interview on Monday.

She acknowledged that the American government’s contribution of $50 million was a modest commitment for a problem with enormous implications for billions of people worldwide.

“Like anything,” she said, “we have to start somewhere.”