FAO Forest Energy Forum Isuue 9, December 2001, Country Compass: Patzcuaro, Mexico

Case study on sustainable fuelwood use through efficient cooking stoves in rural Mexico

Approximately three quarters of total wood use in Mexico is devoted to fuelwood. Currently, 27.5 million people in the country cook with fuelwood. Despite increased access to LPG in the last decades, Mexican rural and peri-urban inhabitants continue to rely on fuelwood in a pattern of "multiple-fuel cooking". Efficient wood-based cooking stoves are being disseminated in the Patzcuaro region of rural Mexico. The stoves are part of an integrated programme that exploits the synergies between health-environment and energy benefits, building on the local knowledge of indigenous women and community organizations to provide better living conditions at the household level as well as improved forest resources. The programme also provides a link between research institutions, NGOs and local communities in a technology implementation-innovation cycle.

Currently more than 1 000 Lorena-type stoves have been disseminated in the region. A subsidy of US$10 is provided to users in the form of tubes for the chimney and part of the construction materials. Users provide their own labour as well as the rest of the materials. Total stove costs are estimated at US$15. The scaling-up of the programme has been initiated as local municipalities are now providing funds for its enlargement. In addition to substantial benefits to the users from reduced indoor air pollution and a reduction in fuelwood collection and cooking times, and to the local environment through reduced pressure on forests, efficient cooking stoves can also provide significant global climate benefits through lowered carbon dioxide emissions.

Background

The vast majority of rural communities in developing countries will continue to depend on biomass energy sources in the foreseeable future. Even in countries such as Mexico, where LPG has started penetrating the highest-income rural households, fuelwood is still used in a highly resilient pattern of "multiple fuel" cooking, which results in poor savings of fuelwood. The continued and, in many cases, increasing use of fuelwood and other biofuels for cooking by the rural populations of Asia, Africa and Latin America has resulted in increased pressure on local forests. A high level of indoor pollution (IAP) from burning biomass fuels in poorly ventilated rooms results in serious respiratory infections. The Patzcuaro region case study illustrates a new generation of wood-based efficient cooking stove dissemination programmes that have been launched in different parts of the world with high success rates. The key to their success is a shift from narrow technology-centred approaches to more integrated approaches, centred on understanding local women's priorities and providing capacity building, as well as multiple health-environment-financial benefits. Efficient cooking stoves have been shown to provide reductions of more than 30 percent in IAP, a cleaner cooking environment, reductions of 30 percent in fuelwood consumption and, thus, in fuelwood gathering time or fuel purchasing.

Approach

The Sustainable Fuelwood-Use Programme in the Patzcuaro region is based on an integrated and participative strategy that tries to find synergies between environmental and local socio-economic benefits. It departs from local indigenous knowledge and traditions, and aims to strengthen the abilities and capabilities of local women. To do so, socio-economic and environmental problems associated with fuelwood use are first identified and possible solutions developed by the local women themselves.

The programme was initiated 15 years ago as a collaborative effort between the National University of Mexico (UNAM), two local NGOs (GIRA and ORCA) and local communities. Stoves are disseminated in village clusters. In each village, women are trained by local promoters through two workshops, where the linkages between fuelwood use, health and the environment are emphasized. Users actively participate in their own stove construction and they also help in the construction of other stoves in the village. A strict stove monitoring programme provides user feedback and assures the acceptance and adequate performance of the stoves already built. A subsidy policy, in the form of the stove chimney and specific building materials implemented three years ago, has been instrumental in substantially increasing the adoption of cooking stoves. The subsidy is justified to make up for the difference between higher social benefits (prevention of forest degradation and reduction in emissions of greenhouse gases) and lower private benefits (reduction in expenditure for fuelwood, savings in cooking time, cleaning and fuelwood collection, and reduction in respiratory illnesses) accruing to users. The user-centred approach has resulted in dramatic programme benefits: stove adoption rates are higher than 85 percent; stove construction time has decreased from two weeks to four hours, and on average stove duration is 4.8 years.

Impacts

The programme has had positive socio-economic and environmental impacts. Measured fuelwood and IAP reduction can be more than 30 percent compared with traditional devices. Fuelwood collection time has been reduced, as has the time needed for cooking and cleaning pots. Participating women and their respective families are increasingly involved in forest restoration and management programmes in their own villages. The forestry options promoted by the NGOs range from the promotion of agroforestry systems in private lands to the support of common property forest management, and are proving effective in increasing the sustainability of fuelwood resources. A multiplier effect has taken place both within the region

and at the national level. Locally, the region's municipalities have started to fund the programme using the same subsidy incentive; 100 people, mostly women, have been trained in stove construction and dissemination; in several villages, demand for stoves now surpasses the programme's current supply possibilities. One hundred promoters from all over Mexico have been trained by the programme, and at least three other regions have started similar programmes. Carbon benefits from the use of stoves have been preliminary estimated at 0.5 tonnes C per stove per year from fuelwood savings which, for the average duration of the stove, means 2.4 tonnes C per stove. Thus US$6.3 per tonne of carbon would cover the present subsidy provided for stoves.

Efficient Lorena-type cooking stove shown during tortilla-making. Users' adaptations are almost the rule; in this case a cover has been added to the stove to increase durability and cleanliness

Lessons learned

The Sustainable Fuelwood Use Programme in Rural Mexico shows how a user-based and integrated approach for efficient cooking stove dissemination can result in substantial environmental and socio-economic benefits. Actively involving local women and relying on their own priorities and traditional knowledge has proved essential for stove adoption. Also essential has been the adoption of a flexible stove design, based on basic principles and critical dimensions rather than on a fixed design. The active collaboration between research institutions and local NGOs and users has provided a nurturing field for technology innovation and adaptation. The small in-kind subsidy is important to get users initially involved in the programme, and to speed the dissemination process. Linking fuelwood demand with environmental issues has been important in making users more aware and actively involved in programmes to increase the sustainability of fuelwood resources. Government involvement through this clear and transparent financial support and through a decentralized approach is essential for project success. (Source: Case study on sustainable fuelwood use through efficient cookstoves in rural Mexico, by Omar Masera and Rodolfo Díaz, Instituto de Ecología, UNAM and Grupo Interdisciplinario de Tecnología Rural Apropiada (GIRA A.C.), Patzcuaro, Mexico.)

For more information, please contact:
Rodolfo Díaz, Programme Manager,
Sustainable Use of Biomass Resources,
GIRA A.C., PO Box 152,
Patzcuaro 61609,
Michoacán, Mexico.
Tel./Fax: +52 434 23216;
e-mail: rdiaz@oikos.unam.mx