Linkages between climate change and the use of woods biomass as a cooking alternative energy

The main objective of this study is to assess the impacts of climate variability on Lake Kivu water levels; Hydropower production on Ruzizi plants and; the use of woods and charcoal in urban and rural areas as an alternative source of energy.Data on Lake Kivu water levels, Ruzizi flows and hydropower production was collected on Ruzizi hydropower plants while the climate data (ambient temperature and rainfall) was collected from CRSN-Lwiro and ISP stations (1953-2005).Then a survey on the perception of climate change and the use of charcoal in rural and urban areas was done and 150 households answered the questionnaires.It was observed that Lake Kivu levels has decreased during the two last decades and the tributaries of Ruzizi River has decreased gradually, reaching an annual mean flows of 75.75 m per second, critical flows for Ruzizi hydropower infrastructures. Ambient temperature raised 1.7 C from 1953 to 2005 in the region and the rainfall became irregular but torrential. During survey, it was observed that both the rural and urban areas depend on the use of charcoal as the main source of cooking energy that is leading to deforestation at large scale in the region.