Grameen Financial Services says that it plans to reach 200,000 members across the districts of Karnataka and Maharashtra by the end of financial year 2010 to promote usage of improved cookstoves to combat indoor air pollution. Grameen Financial Services has so far extended the campaign to 30,000 members of Grameen Koota in the Bagalkot, Davangere, Gadag and Haveri districts of Karnataka, India.
A report in the MayGFSnewsletter titled "Clean Air Campaign" says, "Grameen Financial Services has been instrumental in playing a pivotal role in issues related to environmental pollution. Grameen Financial Services has taken a major initiative to address the issue of indoor air pollution in partnership with Navya Disha and Shell Foundation. So far 30,000 members from Grameen Koota have benefited in 4 districts of Karnataka. By the end of this fiscal year, we plan to reach 200,000 members across the districts of Karnataka and Maharashtra state."
Shell Foundation has partnered with Grameen Koota, a micro-finance institution, for a village level awareness campaign on Indoor Air Pollution (IAP). This brings to the doorstep of villagers new, improved stoves and micro finance. Together, these address the three big 'A's of the challenge of Indoor Air Pollution: Awareness, Availability and Affordability.
Along with field coordinators from a local NGO, Navya Disha, loan officers from Grameen Koota travel across villages to talk to people about the issues of IAP, the Shell Foundation IAP Awareness campaign, the availability of improved cook stoves and loans from Grameen Koota to facilitate the purchase of stoves.
Names of members from the audience, who attend the demonstrations, interested in purchasing stoves are passed on to stove vendors by field coordinators and loan officers. The stove vendors then deliver the stoves to the customers.
Improved cook stoves have been internationally accepted as the most effective solution for tackling indoor air pollution. That said, the challenge has been to both drive adoption as well as sustained usage. The Indian government's distribution of over 20 million stoves in the decade of the 80s and the 90s is a good example of a program that did not result in either.
William Martin, Associate Director at the National Institute for Environmental Health Making it Better to Breathe Worldwide Sciences, says in an article"Making it Better to Breathe Worldwide" in the COPD Digest that while the exposure to indoor air pollution is involuntary and driven by a limited access to cleaner fuels and stoves, there is also the issue of tackling mindsets which are part financial, part traditional.
“Sometimes they rather spend their money on other things,” Martin says. “Or they might say that their mother or grandmother cooked like this. It is very challenging to change how the world cooks. You must consider many cultural and social factors.”
However, there has been a resurgence in the attempts to drive conversion to improved cook stoves since they offer currently the best chances of reducing pollution. Among the global campaigns that are seeking a major breakthrough in finding a route to market is the Shell Foundation campaign that is aimed at creating a large base of ICS users.
The question is are the chances better this time around for a more sustained adoption of improved cook stoves? Simon Bishop, Head, Room to Breathe, Shell Foundation feels that there is good reason why new attempts to provide ICS at scale are more likely to succeed this time around.
“First, the growing link between indoor air pollution and climate change helps because it’s getting a lot more people—and therefore resources—directed to the sector,” Bishop is quoted as saying in the report.
“Secondly, several major commercial players have come into the ICS market. Historically, it was the domain of NGOs and governments who gave away stoves that focused on reducing deforestation and not the health impacts of indoor air pollution,” he says. “These new players have the potential to provide health-benefiting ICS at scale. Together, these elements suggest a paradigm shift is beginning to take place in the sector.”
An efficient wood stove project initiated by ICEED and supported by the Swiss Embassy and GTZ has been kicked off in Bida, Niger State in June 2010, reports the Daily Independentin a report that covers the slew of initiatives being implemented in Nigeria over the past few months.
According to the report, the project seeks to develop technical standards and advocacy on replacing the inefficient three stone method of cooking with wood in secondary schools with modern and efficient woodstove technology.
According to the Independent, "By switching to this new technology, respiratory diseases as result of indoor air pollution will be reduced. It will also result in the reduction of the cost of wood, deforestation and green house gas emissions. When completed, the project will provide the basis for advocacy to ensure that Nigeria’s over 12,000 secondary schools now use this efficient stove."
The institutional woodstove project will be an important addition to already existing efforts by Nigerian N.G.O’s such as Development Association for Renewable Energies (DARE) in disseminating efficient woodstove technologies, says the report.
On the eve of the UN climate change conference in Copenhagen, the Business Innovation to Fight Climate Change and Poverty focussed on business innovations for the global South that help mitigate climate change and its impact on the poor. What types of innovative models are emerging? How can these be brought to scale? What is the role of governments and donors to encourage innovation?
If India were to put out 150 million improved biomass stoves each year for a decade, by 2020, the total number of averted premature deaths from acute lower respiratory infections will have reached about 240 000 children aged younger than 5 years, and more than 1·8 million premature adult deaths from ischaemic heart disease and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) will have been averted, so says a Lancet paper, one of a series of six.
The paper is a part of a Health and Climate Change series titled "Public health benefits of strategies to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions: household energy" and is co-authored by Paul Wilkinson, Kirk R Smith, Michael Davies, Heather Adair, Ben G Armstrong, Mark Barrett, Nigel Bruce, Andy Haines, Ian Hamilton, Tadj Oreszczyn, Ian Ridley, Cathryn Tonne and Zaid Chalabi.
The paper states: "For India, we specified a 10-year programme to introduce 150 million low-emissions household cook-stoves. This scenario was chosen because of the major public health burden that is associated with indoor air pollution from inefficient burning of biomass fuels in India and in many other low-income countries. It is also consistent with proposals that are being considered in India. The cost would be less than $50 every 5 years, perhaps paid partly through government subsidy and partly by the households because of fuel cost savings and time savings in harvesting of fuel. The scenario used here draws lessons from the previous Indian national stove programme, the National Programme for Improved Chullhas,13 which, like the major national programme in China,14 was initiated in the early 1980s and focused mainly on increasing fuel efficiency to assist with rural welfare and, to a lesser extent, protect forests. Secondary emphasis was on reduction of smoke exposure through use of chimneys, and there was no consideration of outdoor pollution or climate. However, there have been major changes in our understanding about the value of and technology for emissions reductions and in world conditions that have modified the landscape for improved biomass stove programmes."
"The changes in health related to traditional fuel use patterns are much better established than they were previously, with hundreds of reports documenting the associated health outcomes. An estimated 400 000 pre-mature deaths per year in India are caused by biomass-fuel use in households.9 The international price of liquified petroleum gas, which is the major alternative clean household fuel, will probably continue to increase faster than will rural incomes, making the transition to modern fuels difficult and, if subsidised by government,increasingly expensive for national budgets. This situation adds to the attraction of deployment of advanced biomass stoves that provide high performance, use local renewable resources, and relieve the government of the cost of fuel subsidies. Climate change is a major threat and household fuel combustion is an important contributor, especially to black carbon, with high greenhouse effects per unit energy delivered compared with many other human uses of energy, depending on the relative weighting of the climate-active pollutants emitted."
The paper argues that if 15 million stoves are given out each year, at the end of the decade, 87% of Indian households would have clean combustion, either through graduating on their own to clean fuels or receiving advanced biomass stoves as part of the intervention.
By 2020, the total number of averted premature deaths from acute lower respiratory infections will have reached about 240 000 children aged younger than 5 years, and more than 1·8 million premature adult deaths from ischaemic heart disease and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) will have been averted. The paper claims that overall, the national burden of disease in 2020 from these three major diseases would be about a sixth lower than it would have been without the stove programme—which is equivalent to elimination of nearly half the entire cancer burden in India in 2020.
Shell Foundation awareness campaign launched in 111 Villages in Shimoga district
Combined action with District Administration underway
Inter-ministerial committee mooted to plan for Indoor Air Pollution Free State
Toxic emissions and smoke from cooking claims 400,000 lives in India every year
In developing countries this makes Indoor Air Pollution the most lethal killer after malnutrition, unsafe sex and lack of safe water and sanitation. 59% of these deaths are women.
Shell Foundation has undertaken a comprehensive program of engagement in 111 villages in Shimoga and is partnering with the district and state administration to drive awareness on the third largest killer in the country, Indoor Air Pollution (IAP). Shell Foundation has received support from the Chief Minister’s office on its proposal to appoint an inter-ministerial committee with participation of IAP experts, stove manufacturers, MFIs, NGOs and others to develop a blueprint for State action. The State Government has positively viewed Shell Foundation’s proposal to adopt a mission of turning Districts with high firewood usage into “IAP Free Districts”, starting with Shimoga as a model District.
The campaign currently in operation in the Shimoga district in Karnataka has received the support of relevant officials of the State and District administration namely Department of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj; Minister of Social Welfare; Deputy Commissioner, Shimoga District and CEO Zilla Parishad, Shimoga District. All the concerned departments are now working together with the Shell Foundation team to find ways to reach the message of reducing smoke in the kitchen across the district and eventually the state.
The campaign in Shimoga district is an initiative by Shell Foundation to focus on promoting the internationally-recognised, most effective and sustainable method for tackling IAP, namely ‘improved stoves’, which significantly reduce emissions and fuel use. At present, the program is taking the message to 111 villages in Shimoga district through a combination of on-ground static and interactive activities. The high intensity campaign is being conducted over a 90-day time period between October and January 2009. The campaign is also being reached to the people through active support from the District Administration including the health and education infrastructure, village level health workers and demonstration of campaign for Gram Panchayats.
The current initiative follows a pilot campaign on IAP conducted by Shell Foundation in 2008 in the districts of Raichur, Koppal, Udupi and Mysore, which indicated that although small changes like ‘keeping the kitchen windows open’, ‘installing a chimney or ventilator’, ‘keeping children away from smoke‘ or ‘use of dry firewood’ can make a big difference in reducing IAP, the final focus needs to be on motivating people to change behaviour, with a focus on improved stoves. At a press conference on November 19, 2009 in Shimoga, Simon Bishop, Policy and Communications Manager for the Shell Foundation said that, "We are very pleased that the Government of Karnataka has endorsed the campaign on creating awareness on Indoor Air Pollution. Through this initiative in Shimoga we hope the activities we conduct will be a showcase for a campaign that we would eventually like to expand across southern India. Our basic concern is that women should not be dying as a result of cooking meals for their families. If we can convince families to adopt improved cook stoves we will begin to prevent this from happening."
One person around the world dies every 20 seconds from the cumulative effects of IAP, resulting in approximately 1.5 million deaths per year, thus making IAP the fourth biggest killer in the world’s poorest countries, after malnutrition, unsafe sex and lack of safe water and sanitation. (Source: World Health Organization).
Shell Foundation has also developed the concept of ‘standardization of stoves’ to be able to directly connect the campaign with the improved stoves. The mark called ‘Symbol of trust’ (see top of release for symbol) will appear on the packaging and marketing materials of all improved stove manufacturers i.e. those that have passed rigorous tests on minimum emissions and fuel reduction standards as laid down by international bodies. At the local level, this mark will double-up as a ‘standards mark’ to indicate an improved stove that will reduce smoke levels by as much as 55%, while using at least 40% less fuel. 111 villages, with populations larger than 2000 people, will be covered in this campaign in the Shimoga district across its seven taluks namely Bhadravathi, Sagar, Sorab, Shimoga, Theerthahalli, Shikaripur and Hosanagara. The campaign running through a stretch of 90 days includes an outdoor campaign that communicates the message through posters and wall paintings. The Village to Village campaign involves engaging local villagers through neighbourhood gatherings hosting a stream of mobile van campaigns, flip chart stories, street plays, interactive games and contests to give people a sense of involvement. The campaign is being taken to the doorstep using the concept of Sustained Activist Householder who is an active local village lady visiting various households and informing the villagers about the problems of IAP and its solution – use of improved stoves standardised with the ‘mark of trust’ through flipchart stories and distribution of leaflets. Smoke-less Stove demos being conducted at weekly markets will introduce villagers to the benefits and effective use of stoves by providing them with a first-hand experience of using the stove. At present, the campaign by Shell Foundation will highlight to the villagers the presence of independent improved stove manufacturers like Envirofit and Selco who have launched a range of clean burning biomass cookstoves in the country designed by teams of globally recognized scientists and engineers. The Shell Foundation sees this awareness campaign as one of the most exciting and important developments in its Breathing Space program, which aims to achieve a significant long term reduction in IAP by designing so-called improved stoves that are more emission and fuel efficient - and by developing a sustainable way to get them in to people’s homes.
More than half the world’s population uses open fires or stoves for cooking and heating, breathing in lethal fumes inside their homes on a daily basis.
This causes 1.5 million premature deaths each year, according to World Health Organisation (WHO) calculations. In developing countries, this makes Indoor Air Pollution (IAP) the most lethal killer after malaria, unsafe sex and lack of clean water or sanitation – yet, in comparison, this issue has a very low profile.
For the foreseeable future billions of people will continue to use wood, cowdung and crop leftovers as their main fuel. Therefore it is essential that efforts to reduce exposure to indoor air pollution be directed at the reality people face now. Smoke will continue to be produced, so it needs to be removed from the house. Typical traditional cook stoves of south Karnataka can take either two pots or three pots at a time, and use firewood as fuel. The flame surrounds the main pot with some of the hot gases finding their way to the neighbouring pot/pots.
The efficiencies are generally quite low and are of the order of 10%. The kitchens are usually blackened with smoke. A masonry hood-chimney is sometimes provided, which helps in sucking the smoke upwards. The reasons for the low efficiency are not difficult to seek. The main reasons are: a. Loss of heat through unburnt gases that are released in the air. b. Radiation loss from the flame. c. Cooling effect due to excess air factor. d. Stove losses. f. Incomplete combustion due to inadequate mixing of air. Improved stoves were primarily designed to increase energy efficiency. The fuel-efficient ASTRA stove, with a thermal efficiency of 44%, was developed and about 1.5 million stoves disseminated in Karnataka. The level of acceptance was around 60%. The experience of Astra also showed the need for more stove designs to cater to the diverse cooking practices in different regions and clean combustion with improved efficiency.
Recently, organizations such as Envirofit and SELCO launched a range of clean burning biomass cookstoves in the country.
Designed by an international team of globally recognized scientists and engineers, the cookstoves made by Envirofit reduce toxic emissions by as much as 80%, while using 50% less fuel and reducing cooking cycle time by 40%. The cookstoves have been developed as a result of a partnership between Envirofit and Shell Foundation (UK).
According to a white paper by L K Atheeq, rural areas of Karnataka face indoor air pollution which leads to health related problems like breathing difficulties, upper respiratory infections and breathing difficulties. Besides, the lack of awareness among the rural poor about indoor air pollution and its consequences, these problems are also linked to the economic, social and cultural issues of the rural community. The paper also lists solutions, models current programmes and the way forward besides highlighting how the state is being impacted due to the issue, especially the rural poor.
More than half the world’s population uses open fires or stoves for cooking and heating, breathing in lethal fumes inside their homes on a daily basis.
According to reports, lower levels of income group use fuel that is cheap and locally available but not very clean nor efficient. Over 3 billion people worldwide are at these lower rungs, depending on biomass fuels—crop waste, wood, leaves, etc.—and coal to meet their energy needs according to WHO. Asia and Africa are the nations where the use of such fuel is to be seen the most: 95% of the population in Afghanistan uses these fuels, 95% in Chad, 87% in Ghana, 82% in India, 80% in China, and so forth. This causes 1.5 million premature deaths each year, according to World Health Organisation (WHO) calculations. In developing countries, this makes Indoor Air Pollution (IAP) the most lethal killer after malaria, unsafe sex and lack of clean water or sanitation – yet, in comparison, this issue has a very low profile.
For the foreseeable future billions of people will continue to use wood, cowdung and crop leftovers as their main fuel. Therefore it is essential that efforts to reduce exposure to indoor air pollution be directed at the reality people face now. Smoke will continue to be produced, so it needs to be removed from the house.
Simple changes in the way the cook behaves can reduce exposure to smoke. For example, making sure that fuel wood is dry cuts emissions. The use of a pot lid can reduce the fuel consumed during simmering by a factor of three and overall emission levels by almost a half.
What can make a big difference is to ensure that the wood or cow dung or crop residue being used is dry. Damp biomass tends to smoke more and firewood must be dry for efficient burning. 1. Firewood must be dry when used for lighting a fire as damp wood when burnt releases unclean smoke and covers the walls with soot. The water content of wood must be between 15-20% only. If there is more water than that the stove does not burn the wood effectively or efficiently. 2. The stove must be heated quickly with sufficient kindling as this raises the temperature within the stove leading to clean combustion. The correct lighting of fire also ensures that the stove reaches a good working temperature quickly. 3. Logs that are too large must not be used for burning as there must be air between the wood and the walls of the oven proper burning. 4. There must not be too much firewood as this hampers proper combustion. When wood is heated it gives out gasses, which requires air to be burnt and add to the flame in your stove. If there is too much firewood in the stove it hinders the optimal air supply. 5. Firewood is best bought early and is most effective when stored properly. Wood requires time to dry and it takes about two years for wood after it has been cut to dry correctly. Since smaller pieces of wood dry faster than larger ones, wood must be stored after it is chopped in the appropriate size for your stove. Wood must be stored in a place with air and sun where it is protected from rain. 6. Avoid covering the wood with plastic as this does not let the wood dry by keeping the humidity within. Also, it is not advisable to store wood indoors as there is a risk that the wood may rot due to insufficient ventilation.
Shell Foundation’s “My Kitchen, My Pride” campaign of 2008-09 was aimed at spreading awareness about the benefits and the necessity of keep wood dry as well as other ways to limit kitchen smoke.
The campaign was meant to raise awareness about the dangers from kitchen smoke, including pneumonia, respiratory diseases, cataracts, among others and guide them in making small changes to reduce kitchen smoke rather than ignoring the dangers of smoke in the kitchen.
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