The Nicaragua project

3,000 energy efficient stoves in Nicaragua

In partnership with Climate Care, lastminute.com is helping to install 3,000 energy efficient stoves (ecostoves) over three years to five towns in Nicaragua, to reduce CO2 emissions and improve the health of families. The towns include Managua, Leon, Chinandega, Masaya and Granada y Esteli.

Before

After

What is the project about?

As in many urban communities, wood for cooking is brought in from the surrounding countryside, causing deforestation. This unsustainable use of wood not only degrades the local environment, but also increases CO2 and global warming. To cook this staple diet of tortillas, tortilla-makers (mainly women) burn open fires in their kitchens for 12 hours a day. This method uses significant amounts of wood and causes respiratory diseases and pollution inside homes. A local NGO has developed the EcoFogon, an ecostove that uses 60% less fuel wood for the same amount of heat. Rather than burning huge logs, the stoves burn slim sticks, drastically reducing the amount of smoke, which is then extracted through a newly installed chimney.

The project itself

With the help of lastminute.com, Climate Care is working with a local NGO, PROLENA, to encourage families to use these new stoves. This includes promoting the technology to families and businesses and assisting tortilla-makers in obtaining small loans through a local micro-finance institution, which they can repay over a few months using the money saved on buying wood. Each stove reduces wood use by 60%, which is a significant saving. Just as importantly for people cooking, the stoves also reduce smoke and significantly improve air quality.

What progress has been made?

PROLENA is using part of Climate Care's funds to purchase land to build a new premises - up until now it has had to rent land which is more expensive in the long term. The funds from Climate Care will give it a more stable financial future.

PROLENA is focusing on tortilla vendors - as they have their stoves lit for up to 12 hours a day. They have already installed 3,000 stoves since receiving Climate Care's grant and this number will increase as the program becomes more established.

What does this project do for climate change?

Each stove is predicted to reduce CO2 emissions by over one and a half tonnes per year. As the stoves have a life of over two and a half years, that is about 8,000 tonnes.

What is being done to monitor the project?

The NGO that Climate Care is working with will be keeping detailed records of the families that are using the stoves. They will also survey the amount of wood the families used with their old cooking methods and with the new, so that the savings can be calculated. Climate Care has commissioned a Brazillian environmental consultant to carry out checks on this monitoring and to calculate overall impact of the project.

• Travel
  • Flights
  • Hotels
  • Holidays
  • City breaks
  • Car hire
  • Ferry tickets
  • Train tickets
  • Travel insurance

• See also
  • Travel news
  • UK & Ireland breaks
  • Auctions