Mexiconservacion's Blog

Can a wood-burning stove be environmentally friendly?

by David Núñez , July 2009 

 Readers used to cooking on gas or electric stoves may find it hard to believe, but approximately half the world’s population still relies on solid fuels (wood, dung, coal) as their primary fuel source.  Not only does the wide use of firewood contribute to local deforestation, but the regular use of open fires in the home is linked to acute respiratory infections in children & chronic respiratory illness (including tuberculosis & cancer) in adults.  Regular exposure to indoor smoke has also been linked to other ailments, including ear infections, cataracts and unsuccessful pregnancies. It is responsible for over a million and a half premature deaths each year, disproportionately among women and children.

So, given all the environmental and public health concerns that surround the burning of firewood, how can a wood burning stove be good for the environment?  By reducing the amount of wood used relative to aditional open fires and significantly improving both household air quality and family health.  The Patsari stove does all these things.

For further information, check on our website 

www.mexiconservacion.org/MC_SM_PatsariStove.html

Continuing with our Mexico Posible series, we bring you another successful example of sustainable natural resource management.

Located on the Sonora coast, the Seri are one of the smallest indigenous minorities in Mexico, and only about 600 remain. However, we have a lot to learn from them. While other fisheries have collapsed, the capture levels in their fishery have remained constant for over three decades…

To find out how have they managed this, click here.

In conjunction with The EcoTipping Points Project (www.ecotippingpoints.org), Mexiconservación has begun a new project in which we will share environmental sustainability success stories from Mexico, and the lessons learned from them. This project is called México Posible.

Our first success story covers how indigenous communities in the jungles of Quintana Roo have made the transition from unsustainable slash-and-burn agriculture to a model of agroforestry that incorporates fruit trees and wood-tree plantations, reversing deforestation trends and becoming a model of sustainable for the world: Sustainable Agroforestry in the Mayan Zone of Quintana Roo