Promotion of Improved Cooking Stove Use in Nepal
Nepal is still mostly an agrarian society where more than 70% of the population lives in remote rural conditions. Due to limited household income and lack of transportation, most of rural Nepal still relies on traditional resources such as firewood, animal and agriculture waste for cooking — using inefficient cooking stoves that emit smoke into the living space with almost no ventilation. In most households, traditional “three stone stoves” are used for cooking and heating requirements. This leads to unhealthy living conditions at home from indoor air pollution and increases pressures on the surrounding forests.
Improved cooking stoves can reduce forest degradation, provide local income, and reduce illness and death caused by indoor air pollution. Most ICS designs can be manufactured locally with some training. The ICS is made using local bricks, iron rods, and ceramics for the interior. These stoves use 30-50% less firewood, and the design includes a chimney to vent the smoke from the stoves.
The overall objectives of the project are to reduce forest degradation, mitigate indoor air pollution/improve health, and create income/save money in rural communities. Specific objectives are:
- Reduce greenhouse gas emissions through reduced use of firewood
- Reduce rural poverty through the use of affordable and sustainable promotion of improved cooking stove (ICS)
- Improve livelihoods by installing ICS
- Build institutional and professional capacities along the ICS value chain in rural areas
- Develop Carbon Offset project