Eco Stoves for Miskito Indigenous Households in Bosawas, Nicaragua - Nicaragua

This project has provided eco stoves to the Miskito and Mayagna indigenous people in Nicaragua's Bosawas biosphere reserve. The stoves burn more efficiently and release less smoke into the atmosphere than traditional open fires, thereby reducing greenhouse gas emissions and deforestation of the rainforest. This project has four key long-term goals: empower women in development, improve community health, mitigate and adapt to climate change and preserve the Bosawas biosphere.

Fast facts:

This activity has provided 200 eco-stoves to single mother households in the Bosawas reserve;
This activity works with the community to mitigate and adapt to climate change, empower women in the community, and also improve children’s health.

The problem

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that in 2012, 81,000 people in Latin America and the Caribbean died from household air pollution, with 4.3 million deaths globally. Combined with ambient air pollution, the WHO has determined household air pollution is the world’s largest environmental health risk (2014).

The solution

By reducing smoke and providing proper ventilation, eco stoves reduce the occurrence of respiratory illness and environmental deaths in the Miskito community. The eco-stoves also improve child health by reducing the amount of time mothers spend collecting firewood, thereby giving them more time to care for their children and engage in agricultural production, aiding in offsetting the agricultural losses caused by climate change.

Helping the planet

The fuel efficiency of these stoves reduces fuel consumption, thereby reducing deforestation and protecting vital water resources. The eco-stoves use 75% less wood and limit air pollution by reducing household smoke by 90% compared to traditional adobe stoves.

Helping people

This project will directly benefit 200 indigenous women and their families, who will receive an eco-stove. The average indigenous household in Nicaragua has eight members, thus 1,600 people will benefit directly as a result of the project. The population of the three villages benefiting from the project in the western half of Bosawas is more than 8,600 people, who will indirectly benefit from improved economic development (due to the increased participation of women in government and improved nutrition of children), and the preservation of their environment (due to the decreased use of wood for fuel and decreased production of smoke).

Scaling Up

Materials and equipment for the stoves are purchased locally, and all builders, carpenters and supervisors, are all employed locally to ensure sustainability. The project prioritizes capacity building through knowledge transfer between the local people employed to construct the stoves and those interested in constructing their own. In utilizing local resources and knowledge transfer, the project will remain sustainable, and, upon initial investment of capital, can easily be scaled up in other communities for a more widespread approach to climate change mitigation and adaptation.