Cooking in refugee camps and informal settlements: A review of available technologies and impacts on the socio-economic and environmental perspective

In the world, the number of forcibly displaced people is arising. These people have several needs, especially in terms of food security. The humanitarian response usually focuses on food availability and access, while food processing is often neglected. In this framework, cooking technologies play an essential role. Many scientific studies and international reports address the issue of clean cooking technologies dissemination in developing countries. Less information is instead available in the literature for the specific case of humanitarian contexts, such as refugee and Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps, or informal humanitarian settlements. Unsustainable and inefficient cooking technologies or practices can have direct impact on food preparation, and indirect effects on local biomass resources overexploitation, health of local people, and social conflicts between hosted and hosting communities. This study aims at presenting a systematic review of both scientific and grey literature on cooking technologies and related practices, including a selection of experiences from the implementation of cooking devices in humanitarian projects and programmes. The Authors conclude that the attention to the problem is arising, but still very few information is available, in terms of scientific research.