Concerted action on the ground is enabling global players in the improved cook stoves space to propagate awareness of the issues associated with Indoor Air Pollution. It also means they increasingly tap into local communities to better understand behaviour, cooking methods, fuel economics and challenges of access and affordability.
From Africa to Asia, international organisations, alliances, regional and local experts and institutes, along with global and local research entities, are joining hands to transfer knowledge and technology. They also gain valuable experience on the ground that they can then take back to their labs for further analysis and a view to solving the holy grail of cook stoves – how to create quality product that sell for less than $10.
One such recent effort was in Vientiane where 34 experts, academics and entrepreneurs from around the region got together to discuss and test cleaner, more efficient cookstoves.
The Stove Design & Testing Workshop, the first of its kind in Lao PDR, bought together participants from Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Thailand, as well as trainers from Aprovecho Research Center. The workshop was organised by SNV and the Lao Institute for Renewable Energy (LIRE) and funded by USAID and US EPA as part of their innovative Lower Mekong Initiative (LMI).
The Vientiane workshop helped build networks between major regional stakeholders working on combating indoor air pollution through deployment of improved cook stoves. The workshop also sought to set the ball rolling on a process that is expected to eventually lead to the distribution of half a million stoves over the next eight years, impacting the lives of at least two million people in Laos. Participants shared methods to design, evaluate, and commercialize improved-stoves that use less fuel and produce less smoke.
Such congregations take on added meaning when the national governments are themselves key players in finding solutions. In the Lower Mekong Regional, governments and NGOs are actively invested in efficient cookstove project.
According to WHO estimates, there are over 6,000 premature deaths in Laos every year due to the use by 69 per cent of rural Lao people of wood and charcoal. According to a WWF study, 70 per cent of Lao’s greenhouse gas emissions are a result of deforestation.
Read the full story on: Recipe for Success: Improving Cook Stoves in Lao PDR and U.S. Embassy Supports First Clean Cookstove Workshop in Laos
