Fuel-Efficient Stoves: Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico

In EcoLogic’s regional office in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala (known locally as Xela, a homage to its indigenous name Xelaju), EcoLogic Communications Officer, Riley Hunter, sat down with Fernando Recancoj, long-time EcoLogic Field Technician for our Totonicapán project to get a better idea of what makes EcoLogic unique, why Fernando has stayed so committed to EcoLogic for 9 years, and why he is confident that EcoLogic the best place for him to create change and help rural and indigenous communities conserve their natural resources in Totonicapán.

Here’s a transcript of our talk:

Riley: Tell us how you became involved for the first time with EcoLogic and what is your role now?

Fernando: Well, the first time I came into contact with EcoLogic was through a consultation in which EcoLogic wanted to implement an irrigation system in the [reforestation] greenhouses in Totonicapán. So they spoke with me. At that point I was working, as I still do, in Totonicapán, and I offered them my services to install this system, they paid me for it, and this was the first time I had contact with EcoLogic.

Later, there was a position for a technician with EcoLogic that would be helping the 48 Cantones, and well, I heard of it and applied, and here I am after 9 years.

Riley: From your point of view, describe the most significant change you’ve achieved since your involvement with EcoLogic?

Fernando: Hahaha, good question. I think the most significant change for me is something that goes two ways — both for the communities and for me as a professional or a person who collaborates in community processes. It is the subject of empowering families and communities to address the issues related to their natural resources.

Because for me, this subject [of empowerment], when I started with EcoLogic, it wasn’t something new but it didn’t have much familiarity in conservation work. My job before was much more related to food security and agriculture, but when EcoLogic entered the scene I saw this part of natural resources, so I think it has been this change, for me as a person, knowing more and helping more with processes related to the conservation of natural resources and the interaction with people and their resources, such as the goods and services that the forest provides, like water. I think it is empowering for me and the communities to think of conservation like this, and it’s a better type of conservation.

Riley: Why is this significant to you?

Fernando: It’s significant because, I think you start making sense of the problem. I think this approach makes you more conscious of the situation and you begin acknowledging the related issues, and most importantly, more than understanding the causes of the problems, it allows you to take actions. You begin to understand from your place, from your profession, from your position, that you can start taking action. Not just stay with romantic ideas of the beauty of the forest and how beautiful the birds are, but what do we desire? You find that the people really need the forest resources and its not that they are poorly educated or something like that. It’s because it’s a human necessity. So, you have to start to deepen what you’ve learned in college and in your courses. It’s not just the theory, you have to start modifying a little bit and adapting a bit, conserving the environment is definitely a process of adaptation.

To provide a bit of context on Fernando’s work in Totonicapán, Fernando, like EcoLogic’s other field technicians, works daily in the field to implement and oversee our work on the ground, including reforestation activities, the installation of fuel-efficient woodstoves, and environmental education and mobilization. Fernando organizes EcoLogic community volunteers, prepares scientific reports, collects data, observes and monitors field work, facilitates educational and training workshops, and many other project related tasks. Without Fernando and EcoLogic’s team of field technicians, our work would not be possible.

The bases of mitigating climate change are: to reduce or eliminate practices that generate greenhouse gases (GHGs) and increase the global temperature of the planet, and to increase reserves of carbon storage so that they are not released into the atmosphere.

In the meantime, adaptation consists of all the actions that individual, group and business must take to adjust to the new conditions of extreme cold or heat, prolonged droughts, intense frost or hail storms, etc. The goal is to no longer see these extreme weather patterns as threats that can cause harm, but to learn to manage them and live with them.

"Both mitigation and adaptation must go hand in hand," said Jonathan Schwars of the United States Agency for International Development's Low Emission Development Project at the Second National Congress on Climate Change held in the city of Quetzaltenango, another department of the Western Altiplano of Guatemala and also being affected by climate change.

In order to know where to mitigate and how to adapt, the threats must first be defined, said engineer Rolando Gómez of FUNDAECO. It’s also imperative that municipal mayors prioritize the conservation of green areas in the urban center, restoration of fragmented areas, and harvesting of rainwater. He added, "The more natural resources are taken into account in mitigation and adaptation strategies, the more environmental services will be provided to the population."

According to Marta Pérez de Madrid, Climate Change Officer of the International Union for Climate Change (IUCN) for Central America, Mexico and the Caribbean, "municipalities have to be involved from the outset in the processes of adaptation to climate change", because adapting is "making decisions and fostering the solutions that nature gives us and raise the profile of ecosystems as a response to climate change," she explained at a virtual seminar for journalists on Ecosystem-Based Adaptation.

In the 48 cantons of Totonicapán, Guatemala, local leaders are actively involved in the implementation of projects that benefit their communities, including mitigation and adaptation to climate change. They are well organized in five different boards of directors and for one year they carry out community work in favor of their municipality and without payment.

Many people in the rural areas of the 48 cantons of Totonicapán live in poverty and use firewood as the main source of energy in their homes. One of the ways to contribute to the preservation of the natural resources of the community, to mitigate and adapt to climate change, and to help improve their living conditions is by using a fuel-efficient stove that reduces consumption of firewood and helps to prevent respiratory diseases, because the kitchens are not filled with smoke.

Together, Ecologic and the Board of Natural Resources of the Ancestral Community Organization of the 48 cantons select the families that receive a fuel-efficient stove.

In order for the beneficiary families to value and take care of their fuel-efficient stove, they must make a contribution consisting of 2 sacks of sand, 20 blocks and 2 sacks of mud, as well as pay for the labor of the assistant mason who builds the stove.

They also commit to participate in reforestation days, environmental awareness talks, and “healthy home” workshops. In a “healthy home” workshop, through demonstrative and experiential methodologies, they are taught from the correct handling of food, to the use, hygiene and maintenance of their new conserving stove.

EcoLogic provides the cement, the bricks, the tubes for the chimney, and the iron where the food will be heated. EcoLogic technicians make regular visits to the homes to evaluate the use and care of each stove. This is they verify that the model constructed in each home is the most appropriate and accepted by the people in the communities.

Follow this link to read Lucy's full story and see a video of Dora, from the canton of Chiyax, who thanks to the help and solidarity of her neighbors managed to obtain a house and a fuel-efficient stove: 

Links:

• Lucy Calderon full article and video