尼日利亚减少温室气体排放

As the world meets in France for the 2015 Paris Climate Conference, Africa's role in combating climate change continues to be significant.

In rural Nigeria, firewood is a traditional source of energy

"When I use firewood and charcoal, I cook fast, the way I want. I don't use and electric cooker or gas," says food vendor Esther Ajobe.

The WHO estimates more than 120 million Nigerians rely on wood fuel mainly for cooking. This means cutting down more trees. But one man seeks to help reverse the trend. He produces stoves that use cooking gel from ethanol as an alternative to charcoal.

"A little bit of carbon dioxide that is produced by every individual forms the volume that depletes the ozone layer. So from a client change point of view it is important to try to reduce the pollution of the atmosphere with carbon-dioxide and as result of that whoever uses the biofuel gel to cook now he or she is helping in the reduction of the atmosphere of carbon-dioxide," said Jide Adeyemo, co-founder of Green Bio-Gas.

In the last three years, Green Energy and Biofuels, has sold out more than 150,000 stoves. It is such initiatives for clean energy that campaigners like these are agitating for. But they say government must take the lead

"One of our demand is they should pass the bill. We are demanding the government they should diversify from use of fossil fuels to renewable energy, because we know the renewable energy is one of the solutions mitigating the climate change effects," said Smart Amaefula, environmental activist of Coalition Climate Groups.

But until alternative energy sources reach the ordinary Nigerian household, families like this continue to rely on firewood for their daily energy needs

Nigeria is Africa's most populous nation, and the continent's largest economy with a nascent gas and oil sector. Environmentalists warn, the country risks endangering its ecosystem further if more resources are not dedicated towards clean energy solutions.