Protect the Rainforest & Indigenous Health, Mexico

Summary

DESMI will help 50 Mayan families in three villages of Chiapas, Mexico install wood-saving stoves. The stoves reduce deforestation and improve air quality in the home, preventing asthma and blindness.

What is the issue, problem, or challenge?

Over one million Mayan indigenous people live as subsistence farmers in the resource-rich state of Chiapas, where poverty rates are the highest in Mexico. Mayan families traditionally use open-pit fires inside their homes to cook food. The fires require large amounts of wood, requiring women and children to work for hours daily to cut down trees and gather wood. High exposures to smoke causes blindness and respiratory diseases, especially in children.

How will this project solve this problem?

DESMI will provide no-interest loans and technical support for 50 families to each acquire a stove, which channels smoke through a chimney. As each loan is repaid, more families will participate, protecting their health and saving forests.

Potential Long Term Impact

This project will start with 50 families, increasing to 700 families over 3 years. Each stove will allow 50% less firewood to be used, protecting 3,500 trees and reducing carbon emissions. 2,500 children gain better health and quality of life.

Project Message

Over 50% of the world’s people burn wood for fuel, and the CO2 which is released is a major contributor to global warming. You can help protect our planet, one community at a time.
- Yael Falicov, Director of Programs, IDEX

Additional Documentation

This project has provided additional documentation in a Microsoft Word file (projdoc.doc).

Resources