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Wood-Saving Stoves in El Salvador
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Cutting down on wood burning isn't just good for the environment, its also good for families and communities.
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Ana Luisa de Ramirez lives in Isla de Mendez, along the banks of El Salvador's environmentally-sensitive Bay of Jiquilisco. She makes a living selling tortillas to fishermen when they return with the day's catch. Here she prepares the dough using a traditional molcajete. |
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El Salvador's corn tortillas are thicker than those from Mexico, and made by hand. Its the most important part of the local diet and is eaten at almost every meal: breakfast, lunch, and dinner. |
Intensive exploitation of El Salvador's natural resources has left it with less than 2% of its original forest cover, making it the most deforested country in Latin America. The deforestation causes erosion, landslides, and leaves little natural habitat for the region's native species. |
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Traditionally, people living in rural El Salvador cook with wood because they can't afford anything else. This contributes to deforestation and global warming. Traditional wood stoves are very inefficient. A typical family will burn half a cord (1.8 m3) of wood per month. Very often, children in the family will have to dedicate a significant part of their time to gathering wood. Because most traditional stoves have no chimney, women (who do most of the cooking), are exposed to dangerous levels of smoke. |
Here, Ana Luisa, cooks the tortillas on her wood-saving stove. Her children now spend less time collecting wood and more time in school. |
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Ana Luisa says that her health has improved now that she doesn't have to breathe so much smoke while she cooks. |
Our partner in El Salvador, the Coordinadora, has a new project to reduce wood use and improve health. The new stove, using locally available materials (bricks, mortar, and iron) is relatively easy to build and inexpensive. It reduces wood consumption by 37% and safely guides smoke out of the house through a chimney. |
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A pilot project in Isla de Mendez has made significant progress in the last 2 years. Combined with reforestation for the surrounding forest and mangrove swamp, approximately 300 families are now using the wood-saving stoves and helping the environment. Nonetheless, 100 families in the community continue using old, ineffecient stoves. At a cost of $190 per family, this project can have a significant impact on El Salvador's environmentally sensitive Bay of Jiquilisco. |
Ana Luisa with her daughter, who helps her make and sell tortillas.
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Side View |
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WOOD-SAVING STOVE BUDGET
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Front View |
