To support local livelihoods, the National Forestry Authority permits the collection of deadwood and fallen branches as firewood twice a week within one kilometer of the forest edge. However, in practice, this is insufficient. People often collect firewood outside designated times and areas, and illegal activities such as cutting standing trees deep in the forest and letting them decay for use as firewood are also observed. Firewood collection is hard labor, typically assigned to women and children, and is one of the factors preventing children from attending school.
To address this issue, we initiated a project to introduce improved cooking stoves that reduce the consumption of firewood. Traditionally, cooking in villages involved placing a pot over three stones, a setup that is highly inefficient and consumes a large amount of firewood. In response to villagers’ requests, we introduced earthen cooking stoves made from bricks and clay. At first, we conducted trials in several households, comparing firewood usage before and after introducing the new stoves. The results showed that both the amount of firewood used and the number of collection trips were reduced by half to three-quarters.
Traditional fire
Earthen Cooking Stoves
To ensure that the use of these stoves becomes self-sustaining within the local community, we adopted a three-stage approach. In the first stage, we fully supported materials and labor costs. In the second stage, trained local instructors spread the technology to neighboring villages. In the third stage, we provide only minimal support for material costs. Currently, we are in the second stage, and over the past three years, we have installed stoves in 230 households across seven villages. We aim to install these stoves in over 50% of households in each village, and based on recognition of their benefits, we aim to transition to the third stage.
Introduced villages
