Projects that Support Rural Families
TRANSLATED BY JON LOTT
In Guatemala, firewood is the main source of energy for cooking food, especially in rural areas, representing 57% of the national energy matrix.
Many families consider food and its preparation as an intimate moment of family bonding, and gather around open fires to organize daily chores, as well as to transmit knowledge and traditions.
The National Forest Institute (INAB) estimates that the annual supply of firewood is 17.96 million cubic meters, while demand amounts to 27.98 million—a significant deficit that contributes to deforestation and environmental degradation.
The departments of Huehuetenango, Quiché, and San Marcos have the largest firewood deficits, coinciding with areas of high population concentration and higher poverty rates.
Another Stove, the Same Taste and Better Health
Improving the lives of thousands of Guatemalan families is the ultimate goal of the ‘Breathe Easy with your Improved Stove’ campaign, an initiative that is part of the Llamada Program, promoted by the Mitigation Action Facility, through the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the implementation of Alterna.
Knowing that approximately 1.7 million households in Guatemala use firewood for cooking, the social campaign was officially launched in Cobán, the departmental capital of Alta Verapaz, on October 22, 2024 at the Government Palace.
The occasion included the participation of municipal authorities, the Departmental Government, delegates from government institutions, community leaders, Community Development Councils (COCODE), innovative stove manufacturers, technical experts, users, representatives from the IDB and Alterna, as well as the local population.
Javier Martinez, Programs and Projects Manager of Alterna said, “one of the solutions identified to contribute to the improvement of this problem is the gradual and sustained replacement of open fires with improved stoves, capable of saving up to 50% of firewood, which means a daily monetary saving for households.”
An improved stove uses a design based on a combustion chamber created to conserve the heat of the fire, with a sealed structure that includes a chimney that expels most of the smoke out of the house.
This design also has a significant impact on saving firewood, which increases the savings of resources that each family can use to meet other needs such as education, clothing and others.
In Guatemala, 69% of people who cook with firewood in open fires have a high risk of developing heart and respiratory diseases due to smoke exposure. In 2016, 5,700 deaths related to polluted air in homes were recorded, of which 1,700 were children, due to the fact that most of the day, they stay with their mothers, accompanying them in household chores.
Improved stoves are the cheapest and simplest solution to face this delicate situation. There have been manufacturers of such cookstoves for more than 20 years. They are entrepreneurs who are constantly working on different models that reduce the harm of using an open fire for cooking.
In turn, Petrona Cedillo, community leader and user of an improved stove, said, “I never thought that a change, let’s say a small one, could give me so many benefits, at first there was resistance in my house, my mother did not want to know about changing her stove, but now that we no longer live with smoke, our eyes are no longer watering, and we realized the harm we were doing to ourselves.
We live better and save money too, because it takes less wood and less time to cook.”
The campaign Respirá Tranquilo/a con tu Estufa Mejorada was launched throughout the country, with emphasis on the departments of Huehuetenango, Quiché and San Marcos in the west; Alta Verapaz and Chiquimula in the east, all of which are geographical areas with the highest unsatisfied demand for firewood, coinciding with high population concentration and higher poverty rates.
The experts invite the general population, regardless of gender, age, culture and others, to participate and contribute to this positive change for the benefit of the most vulnerable families in Guatemala. The public is invited to follow the campaign’s social networks. This campaign will seek alliances based on shared objectives, with civil society, the private sector and state actors at all levels, encouraging them to collaborate at the local and national level and build a healthier future.
