The Ministry of Environment is set to ban the use and supply of charcoal in Kigali city as it steps up efforts to protect the environment by reducing the use of wood fuel.

The Minister of Environment, Dr. Jeanne D'arc Mujawamariya, said that the government will work with different institutions to finance vulnerable families to access gas as an alternative to cooking.

"We have realised that many households in Kigali city consume a big percentage of charcoal which is a threat to forests across the country yet they can afford cooking gas," she said, saying that cooking gas was more affordable than charcoal.

According to the forests master plan, the Eastern Province has few trees due to mismanagement of forests and dependency on wood fuel in cooking.

Minister Mujawamariya explained protecting forests and use of cooking gas as a way of saving forests is one of the pledges under a new climate action plan that has recently been submitted to The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).