Since 2003, conflict in Darfur has killed at least 300,000 people and forced almost three million people from their homes. You may wonder, is a fuel-efficient stove really the most meaningful way we can help out? At the Darfur Stoves Project, we think it is. And it’s part of a larger effort to improve the lives of people in developing countries.
Left: A traditional three-stone fire. Right: The Berkeley-Darfur Stove.
Most Darfuri women cook as they have for generations, over three stones with a fire fueled by wood that they must gather themselves. This cooking method, employed by 3 billion people — nearly half of the world’s population — burns huge piles of smoky, inefficient fuels like wood, dung or charcoal, also referred to as “biomass.” Mainly used in the developing world, it contributes to a vicious cycle of poverty: poor households lack the money to purchase cleaner, more efficient appliances and conversely, dependence on increasingly scarce resources such as firewood inhibits economic progress. Burning biomass in an open fire also threaten users’ safety, health and environment.
Safety Concerns
For the more than 2 million Darfuris currently living in displacement camps, finding wood is a daily struggle. Women must walk up to seven hours, three to five times a week, just to find a single tree with usable firewood to fuel their fires. Outside the relative safety of the camps, they are vulnerable to acts of violence and sexual assault. They also lose more than a thousand hours of time each year that they could spend learning or making money. In order to avoid leaving the camp, many women pay for fuel by selling the very food they hoped to cook.
Health Risks
The inefficient use of biomass fuels is a large contributor to death and disease in the developing world, with the World Health Organization estimating that 1.9 million people die prematurely each year from exposure to indoor smoke from burning solid fuels. Women and children have the greatest rates of exposure, as they are the household members most likely to gather fuel and cook family meals.
Environmental Degradation
The reliance on biomass fuels in developing nations has put considerable pressure not just on the safety of families, but on the environment as well, increasing both deforestation and greenhouse gas emissions. Recent studies have pointed towards black carbon as the second greatest contributor to global warming, responsible for an estimated 18 percent of Earth’s rising temperature.
The Solution
The Berkeley-Darfur Stove is but one intervention in a complex political situation that requires a multilateral solution. Fuel efficiency is not generally regarded as an urgent priority, but for many Darfuris, it means one less day of struggling to find enough wood to survive. It means increased safety, better health, less harm to the environment, a higher income, more time and increased employment. In DSP founder Ashok Gadgil’s words, “How can you not work to solve a problem when you have a solution in your back pocket, and you see somebody is under abysmally harsh conditions, suffering agony?”
Fuel-Efficient Cookstoves
The need for fuel-efficient stoves or “cookstoves” is not limited to Darfur and the Berkeley-Darfur Stove is not the only technology being dispensed to meet this need. In the left sidebar are resources to provide further information about other fuel-efficient stoves and the organizations that produce them.
