The Burden

A Preliminary Report For the Project

Indoor Air Pollution Mitigation and Awareness A BottomUp Approach Project Location Rural Areas of Jalore

March 2012

Er. Tapesh Mishra

tapeshm@gmail.com

Divya Mishra
Divyamishra.81@gmail.com

Unpublished work Tapesh Mishra, 2012. [All rights reserved. No part of this unpublished report may be reproduced, copied, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted or used in any form or by any means, whether electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission from the principal investigator.]

Contents

Acknowledgments Foreword Abbreviations Executive Summary Chapter 1 Introduction

What is so wrong with it? An insight to the Indian scenario. What has been done so far to remediate the situation? Learning from past experiences. What this report is about?

iii iv v vii 1
1 3 5 8 9

Chapter 2 Literature Review

Extent of dependence on biomass in Rajasthan. Health risks from indoor air pollution. Policy framework for interventions.

11
11 12 13

Chapter 3 Domestic energy supply and utilization scenario in rural Jalore

Source of fuel wood. Impacts associated with fuel wood gathering. Biomass utilization trends. Constraints and Expectations of people.

15
17 18 21 24

Chapter 4 Way forward

Mass awareness. Development of improved chullah . Developing foundation for supply sustainability. An integrated roadmap to achieve energy sustainability.

27
27 29 30 34

Chapter 5 Conclusion References

36 38

ii List of Tables
Table 1. Socio-economic and health indicators of Jalore Table 2. Land requirement for energy plantation Table 3. Targeted roadmap to achieve energy sustainability 9 32 34

List of Figures
Figure 1. Relationship between dependence on unprocessed... biomass fuels and poverty Figure 2. Availability of fuelwood per thousand population Figure 3. District wise health profile of Rajasthan Figure 4. Map of Jalore showing surveyed villages. Figure 5. Rural domestic energy supply and utilization network along with the major externalities. Figure 6. Hierarchy of vulnerability to IAP 3 4 10 10 16 22

List of Pictures
Picture 1. Women cooking on tradition chullah utilizing fuelwood Picture 2. Young kids gathering twigs and small branches from bushy Picture 3. A typical farmland with lopped trees Picture 4. A woman gathering fuelwood by lopping trees in her farmland Picture 5. A woman utilizing her sewing skills to generate income opportunities Picture 6. A group of women returning from MNREGA Picture 7. A woman returning with a headload of fuelwood Picture 8. A group of young girls descending back from an arduous hike Picture 9. A completely chopped tree Picture 10. A man showing wood bought at a price of INR 5,000 Picture 11. A woman cooking on traditional chullah with young child around Picture 12. A woman blowing air to rekindle the fire Picture 13. A typical cooking arrangement with traditional chullah and fuelwood Picture 14. Our team worker educating the prominent women Picture 15. Imparting awareness towards IAP and behavioral interventions 1 1 17 17 19 19 20 20 21 21 23 23 24 29 29

List of Boxes
Box 1. Reasons for underperformance of NPIC Box 2. Key reasons for the success of NSIP Box 3. Burden on young girls Box 4. Characteristics of Prosopis Juliflora 7 7 19 31

List of Annexure
Annex I. Relative Risk for Strong and Moderate Health Outcomes Annex II. Copy of Authority Letter from District Collector, Jalore 41 42

iii

Acknowledgements

I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the many individuals and organizations whose cooperation was crucial for successful completion of this study. I am highly indebted to the then Honourable District Collector of Jalor, Shri K.K Gupta for sparing his precious time and for the much sought support he provided us with. I am equally grateful to the Tehsildar, Jalore and Additional CMHO Jalor along with their entire staff for the extended support and the sought out information they provided us. I would also like to acknowledge and appreciate the kind co-operation provided by Nodal officer, Pijopura; ANM of Balwara and Pijopura villages; Anganwadi Karyakarta of Tikhi, Dhawla, Godhan and Pijopura villages; Staff at primary school in Narnawas and Safana villages. I further wish to thank profusely all the families we have surveyed, for trusting us and providing us with all the information sought by us. I am very much thankful to Dr. J.C Tewari (CAZRI, Jodhpur) for sparing his precious time to provide us his expert advice as well as for the insightful studies he has shared with us. I had shared draft copies of this report with Dr. B.R. Gurjar (IIT Roorkee), Dr. Akhilesh Surjun (UNU-ISP, Japan) and Dr. K.V.S. Rao (RTU, Kota) for their kind review; I would like thank them for their insightful reviews. Finally I would like to formally dedicate this study to my revered Guru Shri Nath Ji (Nathdwara, Rajasthan).

iv

Tapesh Mishra

Foreword

Large proportion of population, mostly concentrated in the rural areas of developing countries depends solely upon unprocessed biomass based fuels to cater their daily domestic energy requirements. Worlds perception over this issue has evolved overtime, even though there is still a lag in the knowledge regarding impacts of this dependence, with the growing scientific evidences it has now been evident, continued dependence on unprocessed biomass is a major hurdle in the path of sustainable and equitable development. This report is based on a reconnaissance survey conducted in rural areas of Jalore (sub-district), Rajasthan, India, to initiate the project Indoor Air Pollution Mitigation and Awareness A Bottom-Up Approach. Although the nature of problems associated with unprocessed biomass utilization (as a fuel) is identical globally, the interventions for remediation should have to be indigenous, as this problem is entangled with traditions and cultural aspects of the affected communities. Hence, a feasible solution could only be reached through bottom-up approach. Thus, the prime objective of this study was to understand the deep intricacies of domestic energy supply and utilization network in rural areas in the arid zones of Rajasthan. We are dedicated to provide a tangible solution to this problem based on the philosophy, For the people by the people. Our effort will be to develop an improved stove in compliance with the constraints and expectations of stakeholders, and design a complementary policy framework based on the socio-economic concepts of cooperative structure and markets. We hereby request your kind support to leverage our efforts to put off THE BURDEN from our society and roll it away from the path of sustainable and equitable development.

Er. Tapesh Mishra

Date: 01/03/2012.

Divya Mishra

vi

Abbreviations:

ALRI: Acute Lower Respiratory Infection AIDs: Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome AIIMS: All India Institute of Medical Science ANM: Auxiliary Nurse Midwives ARI: Acute Respiratory Infection CAZRI: Central Arid Zone Research Institute COPD: chronic Obstructive Lung Disease DALYs: Disability adjusted Life Years DNES: Department of Non-conventional Energy Source GACC: Global Alliance for clean Cookstoves HDI: Human Development Index IAP: Indoor Air Pollution IC: Improved Chullah IIPS: International Institute for Population Sciences IREP: Integrated Rural Energy Program IWS: Improved Wood Chullah LPG: Liquefied Petroleum Gas MNRE: Ministry of New and Renewable Energy MNREGA: Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act MTOE: Million Tons Oil Equivalent NBCI: National Biomass Cookstoves Initiative NCI: National Biomass Cookstove Initiative NISP: National Improved Stove Program NPBD: National Project on Biogas Development

vii NPIC: National Program on Improved Chullah NSS: National Sample Survey SIDA: Swedish International Agency SMIs: Small and Medium Industries SRD: Sustainable Rural development TB: Tubercle Bacillus UNDP: United Nations Development Program USAID: United States Agency for International Development WHO: World Health Organisation

viii

Executive Summary

Its a well known fact that discovery of burning woods for energy kick started the drive of modern civilization. However under an optimum scenario it should have been phased out and replaced by more sophisticated fuels of modern times. But it never happened and still a major proportion of population around globe is dependent on unprocessed biomass based fuels for sustenance of life. About 3 billion people globally (mostly rural population from poor and developing countries) are dependent on unprocessed biomass utilizing traditional stoves. This practice however has far reaching consequences ranging from personal to global level. As per World Health Organizations estimates in the year 2004, Indoor Air Pollution (IAP) from solid fuel use was responsible for almost 2 million annual deaths and 2.7% of the global burden of disease (in Disability-Adjusted Life Years or DALYs). This makes this risk factor the second biggest environmental contributor to ill health, behind unsafe water and sanitation. Moreover, with the growing concern of climate change, this vast expanded practice of inefficient burning of solid biomass has attracted plethora of researchers to estimate its contribution to climate change. Over 4% of Indias estimated Greenhouse gas emissions, worth more than about US $1 billion on the international carbon market are alleged from biomass burning for domestic purposes in rural areas. India has a long history of remediation programs and policies aimed towards this end, but the success achieved is marginal and far from appreciable. The prime reason perceived for this underperformance is ignorance of local constraints while devising remediation policies. Thus, it is of utter importance to have deep understanding of the intricacies of domestic energy supply and utilization network in rural areas, before commencing any project. This report is based on a reconnaissance survey conducted in Jalore (sub-district), Rajasthan, to initiate a project Indoor Air Pollution Mitigation and Awareness A Bottom-Up Approach in the rural areas of arid zones of Rajasthan, with an aim to provide a tangible solution to this problem.

Present domestic Energy Supply and Utilization Scenario in Rural Jalore:

Jalore the proud land of traditions has semi arid climate with an average annual rainfall of 43.4 cm. Vegetation is xerophytic and sparse. Agriculture and animal husbandry are the principle source of livelihood in rural Jalore. More than 95% of the rural population here is dependent on fuel wood as their primary source of energy.

ix The source of wood varies with the location and socio-economic status of households, which includes land-holdings, household size and age distribution of household members. However, a major proportion of population derives its need from extra-territorial gathering. With an economists perspective this practice of extra-territorial gathering and collection of woods is classified as open source harvesting. Since, there is no regulating authority and an absence of classified market this has led to unregulated and thus unsustainable exploitation of natural resources leading to multilevel impacts, viz. personal level (opportunity cost of time spent in gathering, risks during gathering); community level (reduction and degradation of green cover surrounding village) and global level (depletion of forests). As a consequence of over exploitation, wood, which was once considered to be an abundant resource, has now been perceived as a scarce commodity. This has led to emergence of an informal market for fuel wood. Since, the legality of such markets is under grey shades and their activities are often unchecked, they are involved in extreme exploitation of natural resources, leading to phenomenal problem of depletion of forest cover. Summing up all, supply network of wood under the present trend is highly unsustainable and thus been identified as an exigent issue. Coming to the utilization practices, it has been observed primarily traditional mud stoves (chullah) are utilized in almost all the households. The poor design of these stoves led to inefficient burning; in general the fuel efficiency of these stoves is less than 10%. Moreover, little importance is given to seasoning of wood before utilization. Even apparently moist wood is often burned (this however is a consequence of shortage in supply) thus exasperating the smoke level. The location of kitchen varies seasonally; in winters and monsoon (rainy season) indoor cooking arrangement is common, while in summers most of the households shift their cooking arrangement outdoors. To summarize, the consequences of present energy supply and utilization scenario can be classified under five categories as given below: 1. Health impacts: IAP is a major cause of ill health in rural areas. Most vulnerable are young children and women. 2. Economic loss: this practice has severely affected the economy in rural households directly and indirectly, through - expenditures on illness, exceptionally high fuel wood demand due to low fuel efficiency resulting in extra time for gathering, and if directly bought higher prices incurred. 3. Escalating gender disparity: since, mostly women and young girls have to bear the drudgery of wood gathering and cooking under smoky environments, they are most vulnerable to negative consequences, such as health problems due to IAP, opportunity lost due to time spend in gathering woods, and extended cooking periods as well as days lost in illness.

x 4. Threat of energy scarcity: The over exploitation of natural resources catalyzed by absence of a regulated mechanism for wood supply leads to depreciation of wood cover. 5. Ecological degradation: since, wood gathering is done as an open harvest system; no care has been taken for restoration activities, leading to reduced wood cover. The wood scarcity has led to emergence of an informal wood market, which being unregulated leads to over exploitation of resources. All these consequences are deeply interwoven and will eventually lead the rural population to a convoluted spiral of energy scarcity and poverty. Thus, this is high time to treat this exigent issue with a holistic approach.

Peoples perception towards these issues:

As per the traditional settings of this region, mostly women and young girls are responsible for wood gathering and collection. As this has been a part of their daily routine, most of the women are inured towards the drudgery faced during the course of wood gathering, which often requires them to traverse a distance of about 6 to 7 km on remote and arduous terrains. However, the budding trend of buying fuelwood is also emerging in these areas, mainly attributed to the increased income opportunities, through rural employment schemes like MNREGA. This is a clear indicative of willingness to adopt better options. Moreover, many respondents have even shown positive attitude in buying improved chullah (IC) if it reduces the wood consumption by atleast 50%. When enquired about awareness towards health hazards from exposure to biomass smoke, it came to our notice, although most of women are not aware of chronic health impacts but they do feel a need to reduce exposure due to uneasiness in breathing and eye irritation during cooking period. The overall perception is thus positive towards inception of a market for fuelwood and improved chullah. However, the products shall be in compliance with the constraints and expectations of people.

Way forward:
In the present scenario, owing to poor burning efficiency (about 10%), the consumption of fuelwood and smoke emitted while cooking are exorbitantly high. Thus, fuelwood consumption rate can be taken up as a target indicator for devising a remediation policy. At present, estimated fuelwood consumption in these areas is about 0.7t/capita/annum. At this level of consumption even the most yielding option of energy plantation under social forestry is not feasible. This mammoth consumption rate is not at all sustainable and demands urgent attention. Thus, we have perceived a target based roadmap to attain sustainability (notably if the fuelwood consumption

xi is reduced through enhanced fuel efficiency, the allied benefit of IAP mitigation is apparent). With a target to reduce fuel wood consumption rate to 0.1t/capita/annum in a decade, a three pronged approach is proposed. 1. Development and dissemination of improved chullah: The IC shall be developed in compliance with local constraints and expectations. Dissemination mechanism should not be supply based; rather stress should be to stimulate the market for improved stoves. With targeted fuel efficiency of at least 60% and reduction in indoor smoke by at least 90%. 2. Development of social forestry (with a concept of rotational harvesting): It is high time to adopt energy plantation at industrious pace. The plantation species and management shall be under guidance of forestry experts. In Jalore region, P.Juliflora offers a decent option for wood harvesting. A complementary wood market regulated under the aegis of village panchyats shall be developed. The target shall be to erase the need for wood gathering, by providing well processed wood at willingness to pay price. The 10 year growth woodland of P.Juliflora yields about 130Kg/tree, with a plantation density of 2500 trees/ha. Based on these empirical inputs, 6 ha land (per 1000 population) shall be covered under energy plantation. The portion of land shall be protected and managed for a period of 10 years, after which it can sustain future energy demand sustainably (with consumption rate 0.15 t/capita/annum). In the mean period 10 ha land (per 1000 population) shall be covered under energy plantation for early harvesting. The aim during this period shall be to develop and extend a regulated market for processed fuelwood. 3. Awareness programs: awareness campaigns are vital for the successful implementation of any social project. It is important to highlight schools and prominent women to reach the deepest strata. The principle shall be to reduce public inertia towards improvement by making the benefits apparent in short-term, both in economy and quality of life. Thus in analogy with the energy ladder, people will embrace more sophisticated technologies which can ensure sustainability.

Chapter 1.

Introduction

Sustenance of life and Development are the principle objectives of human beings, be it with the virtue of any religion or the fundamental rights of a secular democratic republic. When we talk about development it refers to the development of the quality of life leading to a society that grooms and nurture human creativity. However this seems a distant goal in the present era, with about 3 billion people globally, still struggling to meet their basic sustenance requirements. Its a well known fact that discovery of burning woods for energy kick started the drive of modern civilization. However under an optimum scenario it should have been phased out and replaced by more sophisticated fuels of modern times. But it never happened and still a major proportion of population around globe is dependent on unprocessed biomass based fuels for sustenance of life (Picture 1and Picture 2).

Picture 1: A woman cooking on traditional chullah, utilizing fuelwood.

Picture 2: Young kids gathering twigs and small branches from bushy thickets, to be utilized as fuelwood.

What is so wrong with it?

The traditional practice of burning unprocessed solid biomass in open fire stoves has far reaching consequences. Worlds perception towards this traditional source of energy has evolved over time. Earlier it was considered to be a cumbersome and time consuming practice, leading to the invention and adoption of improved fuels and combustion technologies. However, a significant constraint of high cost associated with these, restricted their worldwide adoption, and still about 3 billion people globally (mostly rural population from poor and developing countries) are dependent on unprocessed biomass utilizing traditional stoves [Pachauri.S, 2011].

2 Then during the 1980s decade, two major externalities namely, energy scarcity and deforestation grabbed the attention of global fraternity. As a result much research work was devoted to household energy issues in developing countries with an aim to improve energy efficiency and to mitigate the extent of dependence on unprocessed biomass for meeting domestic energy demands [World Bank, 1996]. In the 90s the focus of research shifted to the compromised health conditions due to indoor smoke, this has mobilized plethora of researchers to study the extent of health impacts due to Indoor Air Pollution (IAP). As a result there are now strong scientific evidence of extreme health outcomes due to IAP ranging from respiratory illness, eye ailments and possibly cancer [Ezzati et al. 2000; Bruce et al. 2002]. To realize the gravity of situation consider the estimates by World Health Organization (WHO), in the year 2004, IAP from solid fuel use was responsible for almost 2 million annual deaths and 2.7% of the global burden of disease (in DisabilityAdjusted Life Years or DALYs). This makes this risk factor the second biggest environmental contributor to ill health, behind unsafe water and sanitation [WHO (web)]. During the last decade, with the growing concern of climate change, the extensive use of biomass for domestic purposes in developing countries has attracted researchers to estimate its contribution to global warming. The smoke emitted from incomplete combustion of solid biomass from traditional stoves includes potent green house gases too, including black carbon, nitrous oxide and methane which have very high global warming potential as compared to carbon dioxide. Although a major proportion of these emissions are climate neutral owing to the renewable status of the source, however not all carbon gets fixed, as reforestation is not carried out in a balanced manner. Moreover, black carbon and methane which have relatively shorter atmospheric life have very high global warming potential. In addition to these impacts, a large number of social scientists have reached consensus that, dependence on unprocessed biomass for energy requirement has bidirectional causality with poverty. And it has a strong association with gender disparity. Hence its not hard to decipher if the current trend continuous, it will eventually lead a major proportion of population to a convoluted spiral of poverty, energy crisis and ecological degradation (Figure 1). Thus, it is evident; the continued dependence on unprocessed biomass by a major proportion of population (in developing and poor countries) for meeting their domestic energy demands is an exigent issue, and a major blockade on the path of sustainable and equitable development.

Figure 1: Relationship between dependence on unprocessed biomass fuels and poverty, showing bidirectional causality.

An insight to the Indian scenario:

India the worlds largest democracy is home to 1.22 billion people of them nearly 850 million are dependent on biomass based fuels to cater their daily energy requirements, i.e., primarily cooking and heating. This ancient tradition is more of a compulsion now to a thriving proportion of energy poor population, mostly concentrated in rural areas. During 2007-08, in rural areas, over 77% households were dependent on firewood and chips for cooking, with only 9% using LPG [NSS]. It is noticeable to see, the proportion of population dependent on firewood in rural areas has rather increased from 64% in 1974 to 72% in 1991[Gulati.S.C and Sharma,S., 2000]. It is further estimated the population dependent on biomass will continue to increase significantly in coming decades mainly due to burgeoning population growth accompanied with lack of availability of cleaner and more efficient fuels of modern times such as LPG, kerosene and to some extent electricity [IEA, 2010]. The situation turns grimmer when taken into account the negative externalities associated with usage of unprocessed biomass fuels. Two such major externalities are IAP and energy scarcity. It has been estimated that about 0.5 million women and children die each year from IAP caused by biomass burning in India [Smith, 2000]. Based on a Meta analysis study conducted by AIIMS, it has been estimated children who are exposed to IAP were 2.5 times more likely to die due to ARI as compared to those who were not exposed. It was also found, mothers who are exposed to IAP during pregnancy are 1.3 times more likely to have a low-weight baby as compared to those who were not exposed. Low-weight babies are 1.37 times more likely to die in infancy as compared to normal weight babies. Based on the stats that nearly 82% pregnant women are exposed to biomass related IAP, the study concludes the total number of infant

4 deaths attributed to IAP due to ARI and low birth weight ranges from 89,989 to 177,769 annually [TERI, 2010]. In addition to the extreme health impacts, another throbbing issue that calls for attention is of energy scarcity. Which was once considered to be an abundant resource is now falling under the category of scarce commodity. The informal practice of gathering firewood makes it difficult to estimate the exact demand and supply indices for firewood based cooking system. Still many studies have attempted to estimate the quantum of firewood utilized for domestic purposes. According to an estimate by Planning Commission of India, about 79.62 MTOE firewood has been utilized in the year 2000 for domestic purposes and this quantity will rise to about 106.39 MTOE by year 2031, with an annual growth rate of 8% [IEPR, 2006]. It is further alarming to look at the other side of the story. Many studies have shown the availability of firewood per capita is declining steadily (Figure 2). The major reason for this increasing fuel scarcity is depletion in per capita availability of forest area. The availability declines from 0.127 hectares in mid 1960s to 0.064 hectares at present [GoI, and Gulati.S.C and Sharma,S., 2000 ]. In addition to depletion of forest area it has severely degraded too. In terms of biomass availability from forests per capita per annum, it is only about 6 tons as against an average of 82 tons in developing countries [MoEF]. Under such severe estimates it is not hard to decipher, if the current unsustainable trend of biomass utilization continues, it will have grave consequences over the energy security and ecology of our Nation.

Availabilityoffuelwood (cubicMeterper1000 population)

50 40 30 20 10 0 1975 1980 1985 Year 1990 1995

Figure 2: showing declining trend of availability of firewood per thousand population for the period 1980-81 to 1994-95. The data from this study however only reflects the firewood availability from forestry and logging industries, and didnt include the large quantum of informal gathering Source - [Gulati S. and Sharma S., 2000].

What has been done so far to remediate the situation?

India has a long history of projects and policies related to biomass based domestic energy supply system. With the evolution of perception towards this issue, the objectives of projects evolved too overtime. Here, we present a brief overview of the time series of major actions, Government of India undertook. 1950s: As early as in 1950s when the knowledge regarding impacts of extensive biomass dependence was minimal, an improved chullah was developed at Gandhi Niketan Ashram in T Kallupatti, named as Magan Chullah with an aim to improve fuel efficiency so as to save time and fuel [Shailaja.R., 2000]. 1970s: As a result of the oil shock in 1973, the concern towards energy security and development of renewable energy grows deeper. Thus originated the National Biomass Policy with the following main objectives: i) improving energy efficiency of traditional technologies; ii) enhancing supply of biomass, iii) introducing modern biomass technologies to provide reliable energy services at competitive prices and iv) establishing institutional support for project formulation and implementation [Shukla,P.R]. 1980s: As a consequence of oil shock and rapidly increasing fiscal burden from oil imports during the 80s decade, much attention was devoted to development of alternative energy sources. The drive to energy Self Sufficiency led to the establishment of Commission for Additional Sources of Energy (CASE) in 1981. The Commission was charged with the responsibility of formulating policies and their implementation, programmes for development of new and renewable energy apart from coordinating and intensifying R&D in the sector. In 1982, a new department, i.e., Department of Non-conventional Energy Sources (DNES), that incorporated CASE, was created in the then Ministry of Energy. In 1992, DNES became the Ministry of Non-conventional Energy Sources. In October 2006, the Ministry was rechristened as the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy [ MNRE (web)]. The major initiatives taken during this decade were: i. National Project on Biogas development (NPBD): The program was started in 1981-82 with the following objectives: i) To provide fuel for cooking purposes and organic manure to rural households through family type biogas plants; ii) To mitigate drudgery of rural women, reduce pressure on forests and accentuate social benefits; iii) To improve sanitation in villages by linking sanitary toilets with biogas plants. A cumulative total of 4.18 million family type biogas plants have been set up in the country against estimated potential of 12 million plants till year 2009. However a study conducted in 2001-02 by Programme Evaluation Organisation (PEO), Planning Commission has revealed only 66% plants were in use [NBMMP].

6 ii. National Program on Improved Chullah (NPIC): NPIC was initiated in 198687 by the government of India with the following objectives: i) fuel wood conservation; ii) elimination/reduction of smoke; iii) reduction in drudgery of women and children from cooking in smoky kitchen and collection of fuel wood; iv) environmental upgradation and check on deforestation; and v) employment generation in rural areas. By the year 2001 a total of 33.8 million improved chullah had been promoted [MNRE, 2001]. However, from April 2002, the ministry of non-conventional energy sources has discontinued its support to NPIC and it was directed to state governments to continue the program. Many evaluation studies have revealed, NPIC was not much a success. Studies by [Kishore and Ramana, 2002 and TERI, 1989] indicate the program was not able to achieve its objectives of improved fuel efficiency and reduction of deforestation. While the studies by [Smith et al. 1983; Ramakrishna et al. 1989; Saksena et al. 2003] reveals no significant improvement in Indoor air quality. On contrary China also initiated their National Improved Stove Program (NSIP) during the same period, from 1983 to 1996, with almost similar objectives of NPIC. It is believed NSIP has achieved major portions of its goals, and has been termed as one of the most successful program in both energy efficiency and rural development (Box 1 and Box 2). 20 Point program: Afforestation and tree planting were given high priority when the government announced a revised 20 point program in 1980. Simultaneously the social forestry programs were also launched with the aim to improve production of fuel wood, fodder and small timber in rural areas by planting trees in waste land, marginal farmlands and other vacant lands. Many international aid agencies like, The World Bank, USAID, Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA) evinced interest in providing financial assistance to social forestry [Pandey,D, 2002]. Integrated Rural Energy Program (IREP): To improve the rural energy supply this program was launched during seventh five year plan (1987). The programs aim was to provide energy to rural people at a minimum cost through a mix of different sources. The exclusive feature of this program was decentralized planning and execution with fair participation of local people [IREP].

iii.

iv.

1990s: In the 90s decade, awareness towards the extreme health risks posed by biomass smoke increased significantly. This made mitigation of IAP as the prime objective of biomass related projects. During this period LPG market was also liberalized, causing exorbitant hike in LPG price, thus sending LPG far from reach of the poor and rural. Although the government was providing high subsidies for domestic LPG it was mainly benefiting the high expenditure group of urban areas. In order to promote LPG as primary fuel to poor and rural population, the Government of Andhra Pradesh (GoAP), initiated Deepam Scheme in 1999 till 2002.

Box 1: REASONS FOR THE UNDER PERFORMANCE OF NPIC

Indias national improved stove programme, the National Programme on Improved Chulhas (NPIC : 1985 2002) under which around 35 million improved chulhas were distributed failed to achieve either of its prime objectives i.e fuel conservation and smoke reduction. Many independent studies upon evaluation of this programme have consensus over the following reasons for the underperformance of this programme4) NPIC relied on the government subsidy 1) Top down approach was used in its based delivery mechanism (50% subsidy) implementation which made it which reduced the perceived value of the cumbersome for administration. product to the consumer. As government 2) This programme was based on the target automatically paid producers for half the based approach where more stress was cost of stoves this incentivizes producers given to cover large number of villages to orient their concentration to rather than quality of households. So it government preferences and criteria failed to target regions where fuel scarcity instead of consumers. were especially severe and where real 5) This programme does not include the poor people resides. provision of maintenance/repair services 3) Demand for stove not taken into and also lacks formal monitoring of the consideration as there was lack of pilot use and performances of the product in studies and inadequate interaction practice. between producers, users and designers. 6) There is lack of funding for the project. This means the program lacks in The programme funds only the technical understanding users needs. back up units but funds for R&D and NGOs were inadequate. Financial support for capacity building and awareness generation was also insufficient.
(source: Smith,1989; Parikh et al., 1999 ; Sinha, 2002 ; Kishore & Ramana, 2002; Venkatram, C et al. 2010)

Box 2: KEY REASONS FOR THE SUCCESS OF NISP

Chinese government started one of the largest and longest program for introducing improved cookstoves the Chinese National Improved Stove Program (CNISP) in the year 1982. During the same time India and many other developing countries also launched similar type of programs which faced many problems like design failures, lack of public acceptance and quality control. NISP on contrary proved as one of the most successful program in both energy efficiency and rural development by achieving major portion of its goal. Other countries can learn big lesson from its success. The main reasons for such a grand success of NISP are listed below: 4) Little direct government contribution the 1) Targeted area they followed a bottom up Chinese users pay full cost of the product approach and worked in the best area first which they receive. The government with the help of pilot county programs. contribution was very minimum (about 2) Bureaucratic leanness - every level of 15%) and was restricted mainly to training, Chinese bureaucracy was involved in some administration and promotional jobs. This fashion with this program but lengthy helps and assures more active users bureaucratic pathways were avoided. participation in understanding, using and 3) Independent monitoring for the maintaining the product as their money successful implementation of the program was involved in this. regular, systematic and consistent 5) Minimal money flow as an outcome of monitoring and evaluation was made the minimum direct financial involvement of integral part of the program. the government the money flow was less. This helped in the decision making powers of the bureaucracy and reduced their stress. 6) Strategy for commercialization one of the most striking part of this program was the promotion of Rural Energy Companies. These companies do not solely focused on the improved stoves but also considered other rural energy technologies also.
(Source: Smith et al. 1993)

8 Under this scheme, the GoAP agreed to cover the cylinder connection fee of Rs 1,000 for 3 million women from BPL households who are members of self-help groups. The Scheme had successfully facilitated the uptake of LPG by the rural poor in Andhra Pradesh, with 1.7 million connections released by February 2002. However, the review of the scheme found that biomass remained the main cooking fuel for most Deepam beneficiaries, and especially for the cash-strapped rural households that could not easily afford the relatively high cost of LPG refill [World Bank (a)]. 2000s: In the last decade, growing concern over climate change and increased scientific evidences related to extreme health risks associated with biomass burning has elevated the international cooperation towards the remediation research and programs. International agencies like The World Bank, WHO, UNDP, USAID put sincere efforts in assisting rural energy development programs [World Bank, 2011]. During the same period, the marginal success achieved by previous projects and policies demanded restructuring of policy framework to deal with the issue. A major initiative towards this end was taken in the year 2009, when the government announced launching of National Biomass Cookstove Initiative (NBCI) with the primary aim to enhance the availability of clean and efficient energy for the energy deficient and poorer sections of the country. The NBCI of MNRE is envisaged to be structured differently from the earlier National Programme on Improved Chulhas (NPIC). Under this initiative, a series of pilot scale projects are envisaged using several existing commercially available and better cookstoves and different grades of process biomass fuel. This will help in exploring a range of technologies deployment, biomass processing and delivery models leveraging public-private partnerships [NBCI].

Learning from past experiences:

Despite of the high magnitude of efforts the achievements gained were far from appreciable. Still a substantial proportion of Indian population is struggling to meet their basic sustenance requirements. It is important to realize large scale dependence on unprocessed solid biomass as a source of domestic energy has far reaching consequences which are intractably interwoven. Based on the learning from past experiences three basic requirements are identified to be included in the policy framework of future projects for successfully mitigating the dependence on unprocessed biomass. 1. The projects shall be dealt with a bottom-up approach: As the needs and constraints of people vary regionally, it is very important to follow up a bottomup approach through decentralized system of planning and execution.

9 2. Adequate participation and sound communication between various stakeholders: it is very important to involve the directly affected population in planning process, especially women. The intricacies of ground reality shall be duly accounted in during the project planning stage, to ensure deep penetration of remediation policy. 3. Development of market mechanism: A subsidy based approach can never be sustainable. It is very important to develop a market mechanism to finance such projects.

What this report is about?

This report is a part of a study conducted in Jalor tehsil (sub-district), Rajasthan. The study was aimed as a reconnaissance survey for initiating a project Indoor Air Pollution Mitigation and Awareness A Bottom-Up Approach. The prime objective of this study was to understand the deep intricacies of domestic energy supply and utilization network in rural areas in the arid zones of Rajasthan. Based on the socioeconomic and health indicators, as presented in Table 1, Jalor district has been chosen as the project location. Table 1: Socio-economic and health indicators of Jalor
Region HDI (2008)a (%)Rural Populationb Female Literacy Rateb (%)Population using LPG (Rural)c Under 5 mortality rate (Rural)d 85 101 Crude Death Rate (Female Rural)d 6.2 6.4

0.71 75.11 52.66 2.7 Rajasthan 0.527 92.4* 38.73 5.4 Jalor [Source: a-HDR, 2008; b-Census of India, 2011; c-IIPS, 2010; d-AHS, 2011]

The specific reasons for choosing Jalor were: Majority of population dependent on biomass. The low HDI and specifically very low female literacy rate will put significant resistance to the infiltration of prominent policies and interventions to reduce IAP. The district has very high under 5 mortality rate and crude death rate (female) (Figure 3).

The study was conducted in 7 villages of Jalor tehsil (Figure 4). Since the objective of study was not primarily statistical, we chose our respondents with the priority of better communication to gain an insight of this informal energy supply system. We had interviewed prominent members of villages along with few randomly selected households. A total of 35 households were covered.

10

Source:Annual Health Survey 201011 ,Rajasthan (Census ofIndia )

Figure 3: District wise health profile of Rajasthan

Figure 4: Map of Jalor showing 6 of 7 villages covered under study, namely Narnawas; Dhavala; Pijopura; Sanphara; Balwara and Godhan. The 7th village, Bhatiyo ki Dhani, is in Shergarh sub-district in Jodhpur district. [Source Rajasthan Road Atlas, 2000].

11

Chapter 2.

Literature Review

Many insightful studies have been conducted worldwide over the issue of dependence on biomass for household energy and its related negative externalities. Typically research in this area can be categorized under three genre i) related to extent of dependence on biomass; ii) Health risks from to IAP; iii) Economic feasibility of interventions. In order to enhance our understanding of the issue, we had done exhaustive literature review. We are presenting six such insightful studies here:

Extent of dependence on biomass in Rajasthan:

1. Household energy, womens hardship and health impacts in rural Rajasthan, India: need for sustainable energy solution- (Laxmi,V et al. 2003) This study covers 13 villages of Rajasthan and reveals that women undergo a lot of drudgery due to use of bio-fuels. They walk approximately 2.5 km to collect fuel-wood and spent around 50 hrs per month per household in the process of collection and transportation of fuel-wood. High positive linkages between the use of unprocessed of bio-fuels and adult women health is also shown in the study. The losses incurred due to cooking fuels, including work day spent, expenditure on illness and lost working days due to illness are estimated to be Rs 29 billion per year in the rural areas of Rajasthan. The study also showed that people in these areas are willing to move up in the energy ladder as they are willing to pay even higher price for this which means that unavailability of cleaner fuel is the major problem rather than nonaffordability. 2. Utilization of domestic fuel wood in a typical village of Indian hot arid zone (Tewari,P et al.2003 ) The present study is based on the fuelwood use pattern in Sar, a typical village of hot Indian arid zone. The study shows that due to tremendous rise in population (both human and livestock) the region is marching towards fuelwood crises. The availability of fuelwood with regards to consumption was 26.9% less for the whole village. At present, 68.6% wood came from extra territorial resources. On a per household basis, the average consumption of biomass worked out to be 5.1t/year or 0.7t/year/person. It is also estimated that maximum use of fuelwood and other fuel resources (crop residues and dry dung cakes) were recorded during winter + spring. The value of fuel use during winter + spring was 171% higher than summer and 145% higher than rainy + autumn season. The study also quote that due to ruthless exploitation

12 of superior woody vegetation in the last two decades T. undulate, also known as desert teak, is today on the verge of extinction. At present around 68% of the fuel wood supply is provided by P. juliflora, however this resource is not managed properly due to which they are present in form of dense bushy thickets. These dense thorny thickets took the public perception of disaster rather than a resource due to which even the state government of Rajasthan also started an eradication programme without any alternative. If the current rate of depletion or degradation of P. juliflora thickets continues, within the next 4 to 5 years, the deficit of fuel wood supply, which is at present 26.9% will reach 50%. In such a case, 53.7 % of the dry dung production will be diverted to fire places of village households. This in turn will further deprive the agricultural fields from such a vital soil fertility enhancing input.

Health Risk from Indoor Air Pollution:

1. Indoor Air Pollution : The Quite Killer ( Mishra,V et al. 2002) IAP in the rural areas is one of the major threats as these areas are more exposed to smoke from indoor cooking with wood, animal dung, and other biomass fuel. But this problem does not get due weightage in the policy formulation. In the present paper strong correlation is shown between the IAP and respiratory illness like tuberculosis among adult and ARI (Acute Respiratory Infection) among children, and also between IAP and blindness. The study also state that as a cause of ill health in the world, IAP ranks just behind malnutrition, AIDs, tobacco, and poor water/sanitation. This means it is very important to address this problem more seriously and effectively. For this the action needed are promotion of cleaner fuel, mass awareness which include educating people about the risks of exposure to cooking smoke and promoting more efficient and better ventilated cookstoves keeping the social and cultural aspects in mind. According to the authors curbing IAP is not only a key to better health but also an important investment for achieving development goals and improving living standards. 2. National Burden of Disease in India from Indoor Air Pollution: (Smith,K.R, 2000) Many epidemiological studies of specific diseases have been done in the developing countries (mortality and morbidity) attributable to use of solid fuels among the adult women and young children who are at the highest risk because of their exposure level. This paper use the bottom- up method and evaluates these existing studies and applies the resulting risks to more than three- quarters of all the households using solid fuels. Estimated risks are more confident in case of ARI, COPD and lung cancer (for coal use) whereas intermediate in case of TB, asthma and blindness. In India IAP is consider to

13 be the major risk factor as it accounts for 4 6 % of the national burden of disease (using disability adjusted lost life year approach).

Policy framework for interventions:

1. Evaluation of the cost and benefits of household energy and health interventions at global and regional levels: (Hutton. G et al. 2006) Worldwide more than three billion people use wood, dung, coal and other forms of solid fuels as their primary fuel for cooking on open fires or traditional stoves. This is a major cause of IAP which results in more than 1.5 million deaths worldwide mostly of young children and adult women annually. Effective solutions for tackling this major issue do exist which includes use of cleaner and more efficient fuels, improved stoves (based on solid fuels) and better ventilation practices. But to make these solutions effective and sustainable they must be accompanied by behavioral changes. In the present study an attempt is made to quantify the costs and benefits of the selected household energy and health interventions at a global level (in 11 developing and middle income countries). Two main intervention approaches selected for the study are: (a) reducing exposure through shifts from solid fuel to cleaner fuel; (b) reducing exposure through cleaner burning and more efficient burning stoves. In general the results show favourable benefit cost ratios. The economic benefits varied considerably between urban and rural areas because of wide gap in their cleaner fuel utilization practice. The result showed that improved stoves lead to greatest overall economic benefits and these can potentially be provided at a negative net intervention cost, especially in urban setting. LPG and biofuels intervention also generate large economic benefits in relation to the net intervention costs. The economic benefits include reduced health expenditure, value added in productivity due to healthier life, time saving on both fuel collection and cooking process, and environmental impacts at both local and global levels. Local environmental effects are assessed as growing green cover whereas global environmental effects include lower emission of greenhouse gases (CO2 and methane). These results promote household energy and health interventions both nationally and internationally. 2. The Indian National Initiative for Advanced Biomass Cookstoves : The benefits of clean combustion (Venkataraman,C et al. 2010) India launched the National Biomass Cookstove Initiative (NBCI) in late 2009 to develop next generation cleaner biomass cookstoves with an aim to cover whole population. The initiative has set itself the lofty aim of providing energy services comparable to clean sources such as LPG, although current advanced biomass stoves show substantial reduction in emission level but still

14 there is long way ahead to reach the desired level. Once this is achieved it could yield enormous gains in both health and welfare for the weakest and most vulnerable section of the society. Simultaneously this also helps in the elimination of several important pollutants emitting out from the current practice. It is estimated that with the successful implementation of the present programme around 570,000 premature deaths in poor women and children and over 4% of Indias estimated Greenhouse gas emissions could be avoided annually. They estimated that these avoided emissions currently would worth about more than US $1 billion on the international carbon market. In addition to this about one third of Indias black carbon emission could also be reduced through this programme.

15

Chapter 3. Domestic Energy Supply and Utilization Scenario in Rural Jalore:

Jalore the proud land of traditions is situated in the south western region of Rajasthan, located in between 24.485 North latitude to 25.4837 North latitude and 71.7 East longitude to mid of 75.553 East longitude, covering an area of 10564.44 sq. km (3.11% of Rajasthan). On the basis of Agro Climatic zone Jalore comes under the Transitional Plain of Luni Basin. The whole district is the part of Luni Basin due to which Jalore district is often called Delta of West Rajasthan. This region has semi arid climate with an average annual rainfall of 43.4 cm. Vegetation is xerophytic and sparse. Agriculture and animal husbandry are the principle source of livelihood in rural Jalore. People are mainly small and marginal farmers producing Bajara, Maize, Guar, Sesamum and Pulses in the kharif season and in the rabi season wheat, barley and mustard are the dominant crops. More than 95% of the rural population here is dependent on fuel wood for their primary source of energy. Through a detailed dissection of the ongoing trend we are able to determine the sustainability aspects of the current energy supply and utilization scenario. Here we are talking about 3 stages of sustainability viz. economical; environmental and cultural. To have a deeper insight consider the fuel wood based domestic energy supply and utilization network. The whole network is pivoted on fuel wood and traditional chullah, with associated inputs and outputs. The inputs being wood and time while the output received are cooked food, heating and smoke (which is a potential cause of IAP and its associated hazards). We have expanded the boundary of this system to internalize all the socio-economic-environmental impacts associated with the fuel wood and chullah system (Figure 5). The contents of this chapter are structured in accordance with the aforementioned system.

16

Risk of burns from open fire (most vulnerable young children)

Global warming
Indoor Heating Health risk (most vulnerable are women and young children) Indoor Air Pollution Food (Traditional cuisines cooked on chullah are a part rich cultural heritage) Depletion of forest cover Reduced availability of fuelwood near vicinity of village. Smoke Opportunity cost of wood gathering Potential mosquito and insects repellent (thus mitigates risk of malaria and other such diseases) Time (Exorbitantly high cooking time period due to poor fuel efficiency) Risk of accidents/animal bites near wood storage

Risk during gathering

Further Increase in

Fuelwood + Chullah

Fuelwood

Ecological imbalance Threat to availability of other Agroforestry products

Cost incurred on medical treatment + opportunity cost of time lost in illness

Figure 5: Rural domestic energy supply and utilization network along with the major externalities

17

Source of Fuel wood:

The primary input of this system is fuel wood. It has its own set of externalities depending upon the source. The source of wood varies with the location and socioeconomic status of households, which includes land-holdings, household size and age distribution of household members. In general, majority of households are dependent on gathering and collection system. The age old traditional practice of agroforestry is prevalent in these areas. In this system trees and shrubs of utility like Prosopis cineraria (khejdi), Azadirachta indica (Neem) are also grown in the crop fields and these provides a major portion of fuel wood and fodder through seasonal lopping (Picture 3 and 4). The traditional practice of extensive lopping of Khejdi trees during the months of November and December provides families with enough stock of fuel wood and fodder to fulfil their requirement throughout winters. Thus families with major landholdings often meet large proportion of their demand sustainably from their fields. However, increasing population and inter generational division of lands has lead to reduction in landholding size as a result major proportion of households are not having possession of enough land to meet their sustenance demands.

Picture 3: A typical farmland with lopped trees.

Picture 4: A woman gathering fuelwood by lopping trees in her farmland.

Thus extra-territorial gathering has became the prime source of wood collection for households with no or meagre landholdings which constitutes a major proportion of population. To gain an insight of this informal energy supply system we had interviewed prominent members of villages along with few randomly selected households. The summarized information is as follows. Mostly female (age> 10 years) goes for wood gathering. Average distance traversed is 7 Km. The frequency and time required for gathering depends on household status.

18 o Households with no landholdings and or having children mostly female (age> 10 years) are often daily gatherers and invest on average 3 hrs per day. o Households with nominal landholdings or where all members are adult and engaged in some economic activities are mostly monthly gatherers and they invest about 2 to 3 days per month. Mostly woods are harvested from Prosopis Juliflora (Vilayati Babul), Prosopis velutina (keeker), Neem and Khejdi trees. Crop waste, that is, residual straw is also used extensively during harvest seasons. On average 18 Kg wood is utilized daily in a household with 6 adult members. That is 3 kg/capita/day.(During winters, which is almost 2 to 3 times requirement in summers) On average a head load of dry woods weighs 15 to 20 Kgs.

Impacts associated with fuel wood gathering:

With an economists perspective this practice of extra-territorial gathering and collection of woods is classified as open source harvesting. Since, there is no regulating authority and an absence of classified market this has led to unregulated and thus unsustainable exploitation of natural resources leading to multilevel impacts, viz. personal level; community level and global level. Let us elaborate these impacts. At the personal level, the time spend on collection of woods is tagged with an opportunity cost. An appreciable feat is achieved by the government in improving economic opportunities in rural areas through schemes like MNREGA (Picture 5) and also through promoting and providing assistance to women self help groups for income generation activities such as small scaled industries for food and agro processing, handicrafts and handlooms (Picture 6). As a consensus of all the 7 villages an average adult has an income potential of Rs 120 per day. Thus, it is not hard to realize, the time spent on wood collection can be better utilized for generating economic opportunities or simply for recreational purpose. As an approximation about Rs 9601 per household per month is the opportunity cost of wood collection An equally remarkable achievement is in the field of education, with children from almost all households enrolled in village primary schools. Although enrolment and attendance in schools is not getting directly affected by the practice of wood
1

The opportunity cost is approximated based on the information: on average 4 adults spare 2 days for wood gathering (income potential of an adult is Rs 120, as per MNREGA) thus, Opportunity cost = 4*120*2 = Rs. 960. It may however vary, as no statistically significant data is utilized for the estimation purpose.

19 gathering, but the quality of education inculcated in children do get compromised due to large proportion of time spent in wood gathering and related household chores, thus leaving very little or no time at all to study at home. This in turn hinders overall development among children especially affecting girls (Box 3).

Picture 5: A woman utilizing her sewing skills to generate income opportunities.

Picture 6: Group of women returning from MNREGA

Box 3: burden on young girls

Young girls bear an exorbitantly high proportion of the burden of dependence on unprocessed fuelwood. The traditional settings of this region compel girls of even younger age (as young as 6 to 7 years) to contribute their maximum in all the arduous household chores, from fetching water to gathering fuelwood. Amid their strenuous daily routine they had to spare time for attending school and gratifying their childhood activities, which often falls short. This picture is of Sunita, a 10 year old girl, who dreams to become an ANM when grown up. Her family like all others in her village depends primarily on fuelwood to cater their daily domestic energy requirements. Sunita, a student of class IVth has shared duties with her elder sister, to fetch water in the morning and gather fuelwood in evening, she is lucky to have an elder sister as she says, since she is exempted from daily cooking duties which are under the domain of her mother and elder sister. However for many of us even an insight to her daily routine can make us perspire. Her day starts early in the morning, with a task to fetch water from the public water supply reservoir, around 2 km from her home, for this she has to be a part of long queue. In about half an hour when she successfully fills her 10 liters can, she swift back elegantly with 10 kgs weight firmly on her head, only to help in brooming and cleaning of home. After finishing off her part of duties, she gets ready for the school, the most sought out 7 hours of her day. By the late afternoon when she returns back, her next task is to traverse an arduous terrain for collecting fuelwood, as expected bruises, cuts and sprains are common

encounters to her. After a strenuous session of 3 hours she gathers the headload of wood and went back to home, traversing a total distance of about 6 to 7 kms. Now is the time for her to relax for a while and helps in the never ending domestic chores. Each day passes with the same routine, except for those frequent periods when her mother falls ill, and Sunitas responsibilities swells restricting her from attending school. This routine is almost same for all the girls in this region. Although a laudable feat has been achieved in terms of girls enrollment in schools, but their attendance are often very short and majority of them drop out early. While narrating her story, Sunita shows no stigma of losing her childhoods opportunities be in terms of education or simply the fun of being a kid.

20

Picture 7: A woman returning with a headload of fuel wood, it took her 4 hours to gather this much wood, while traversing a distance around 7 km.

Picture 8: A group of young girls descending back from an arduous hike for gathering fuelwood.

In addition to the economic impacts, wood gathering and collection also poses certain risks. These risks can majorly be classified as risk of chronic health impacts and risk of accidents. Since the distance traversed for gathering woods is high and it requires going to remote and arduous terrain, probability of accidents such as falls, cuts and bruises, cases of snake bites increases significantly. While carrying heavy head loads of woods on undulated terrain there is increased risk of chronic lower back ache and prolapse in pregnant women. Since mostly females goes for wood gathering risk of abuse and assault also increases (Picture 7 and 8). Coming to community level impacts, the over exploitation due to open source harvesting has led to reduction and degradation of green cover surrounding villages, which in turns hampers the energy security and availability of other allied forestry products significantly (Picture 9). Based on personal observations majority of respondents claimed, wood has became a scarce commodity now a days. The average distance traversed along with the time required for wood collection has increased significantly as compared to previous years. In addition to this, the restricted status of forests under forest department has made wood collection from forests as illegal thus exacerbating the phenomenal problem of wood scarcity. This has created an informal market for fuel wood. Based on the information collected through primary survey, the price of fuel wood in these areas is Rs 5/Kg with minimum supply quantity as 100 Kg. The spread of this new trend is evident from the observation that, up till year 2003 (Tewari,P et al. 2003) states not a single household under study observation buys wood, and now based on our crude estimates almost 15 to 20% households prefer buying loads of woods, generally in range of 1000 Kgs, which lasts for 2 to 3 months (Picture 10).

21

Picture 9: A completely chopped tree. Absence of regulation and awareness has led to over exploitation of natural resources.

Picture 10: A man showing wood bought at a price of INR 5,000. This much wood will last for 2 months in his family of 6 adults (During winters).

The major supporting reasons that we observed for this budding trend are: Increased household income through successful implementation of MNREGA, and other increased income opportunities. Preferred convenience of buying wood over collecting. Depletion of wood density in near vicinity of villages.

However, emergence of such a market has severe consequences over the ecology of the region. Since, the legality of such markets is under grey shades and their activities are often unchecked, they are involved in extreme exploitation of natural resources, leading to phenomenal problem of depletion of forest cover. Not to mention consequences of forest depletion spreads to global level through the eminent threat of climate change. Summing up all, supply network of wood under the present trend is highly unsustainable and thus been identified as an exigent issue.

Biomass utilization trends:

Now coming to the second input of the fuel wood and chullah system, that is Time. It has been observed, the efficiency of traditional chullah is very low, generally in the range of 10%. This low heating efficiency along with the presence of only one burner exacerbates the time required for cooking significantly. Majority of female respondents claims 2 hours per meal for a household size of 6 members, which is almost more than double the time required in case of LPG and gas stove system. Again this excess time incurs an opportunity cost. It also elevates the exposure to IAP and thus increases risks associated with it.

22
Womenand YoungChildren (<5years) IndoorCooking (NonSeparate Kitchen) IndoorCooking (SeparateKitchen) Outdoorcooking

Remotelylocated;Poor RuralPopulation

Figure 6: Hierarchy of vulnerability to IAP

Coming to the most inimical aspect of fuel wood and chullah system, that is smoke. The poor design of traditional chullah along with the usage of heterogeneous mix of unprocessed fuel wood leads to this undesirable and the most notorious outcome. The smoke from this inefficient combustion process contains large number of pollutants that are potentially hazardous to human health, including Respirable particulate matter, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, formaldehyde and dozens of toxic polyaromatic hydrocarbons (such as benzo[a]pyrene) [Mishra,V et al. 2002]. Large quantum of research has been conducted to quantify the impact of IAP on human health. There are strong evidence that young children (age less than 5) living in homes that burn biomass fuels have 2 to 3 times the risk of developing serious respiratory infections than children who are not exposed. A number of studies have also shown that women in developing countries who cook with biomass fuels have two to four times the risk of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (e.g., chronic bronchitis) than women who cook with cleaner fuels. Along with these there are evidences of increased risk of tuberculosis, lung cancer, pregnancy outcomes, eye ailments, heart diseases and other health outcomes due to exposure to smoke from solid biomass based fuels (Annex I). Since majority of households have indoor cooking arrangement especially in winters and monsoon seasons, the smoke from cooking process leads to the phenomenal problem of IAP. Women and young children (age < 5 years) constitute the most vulnerable group to IAP (Figure 6), partly attributed to their behavioural tendencies, as it was a common sight, mothers of young children keep their child on lap or around while cooking, thus exasperating childrens exposure to smoke, while the

23 women who is primarily the cook is always at highest exposure level (Picture 11 and 12).

Picture 11: A woman cooking on traditional chullah with young child around.

Picture 12: A woman blowing air to rekindle the fire. These practices lead to exorbitantly high exposure to smoke.

In addition to the health risk from exposure to smoke, the open fire in traditional chullah, also increases risk of burns and related accidents, especially among young children. Many respondents claimed to have encountered such accidents occasionally. Beyond the personal risks associated with smoke it has a global impact too. The smoke emitted from incomplete combustion of fuel wood from traditional chullah includes potent green house gases too, including black carbon, nitrous oxide and methane which have very high global warming potential as compared to carbon dioxide. Although a major proportion of these emissions are climate neutral owing to the renewable status of the source, however not all carbon gets fixed, as reforestation is not carried out in a balanced manner. Moreover, black carbon and methane which have relatively shorter atmospheric life have high global warming potential. The use of biomass based cooking practice is thus now attracting researchers to estimate its contribution to global warming and climate change. By now we believe it is qualitatively evident that the traditional practice of meeting domestic energy demand from fuel wood utilizing traditional chullah is no longer sustainable and demands improvement.

24

Constraints and Expectations of people:

We also realize it is of utter importance to have a deep understanding of local conditions and constraints which shall duly be taken into account while providing a solution so that the improvement aimed should penetrates deep to the level of stakeholders. Now we will highlight those constraints which are responsible for generating inertia among rural population to continue with the same unsustainable manner which will eventually lead them to a convoluted spiral of poverty, energy crisis and ecological degradation. Through the consensus of views from stakeholders we have identified 10 constraints: 1. Perceived zero direct cost: The current practice of fuel wood collection through gathering and utilizing it on traditional chullah bears zero direct cost. As most of the people dont realize the substantial opportunity cost associated with gathering. As far as chullah is concerned it incurs no cost as its a traditional 3 stone system which almost all households make for themselves through locally available materials, which are few bricks, cow dung and mud (Picture 13). Hence due to the psychological benefit of not paying from pocket, most people consider the current practice as economical.

Picture 13: A typical cooking arrangement, with traditional chullah and fuel wood.

2. Lack of awareness towards the economic opportunities of women: Most of the households dont realize the opportunity cost associated with current practice, since, mostly females are engaged in these activities, and they are considered to be economically non-productive. However with the expanse of MNREGA scheme economic capabilities of women have increased in rural areas, but still most of the people are unaware of other income generating options especially for women, such as women self help groups, SMIs under

25 cooperative structure which are envisaged to become the backbone of rural economy. Low involvement of women in decision making at household level: Gender disparity is still prevalent in the social strata. Almost all socioeconomic decisions are taken by males, who are often not involved in any of the activities related to wood gathering or cooking, thus they dont realize any discomfort in the current practice. Whereas the females have become inured towards the hardships faced during the course of wood collection and cooking on chullah and thus they too lack any motivation to change. Unawareness of the health risks due to IAP: Most of the women are unaware of the potential health hazards posed by smoke, especially to young children in form of increased risk of ALRI (commonly pneumonia) and to the cook (commonly women) who is at greatest exposure to smoke with the increased risk of COPD. However, they do complain of uneasiness in breathing and eye irritation during cooking periods. Unavailability of LPG supply infrastructure: some households do realize the negative aspects of cooking with fuel wood and would prefer to change to a better fuel, but lack of availability and low frequency of LPG supply restricts them to old practice. Large household size: most of the female respondents claim traditional form of cooking on chullah is preferred over LPG stoves in case of bigger household size. This trend was evident when we inquired the few households with LPG connections, they told us, LPG is used only for snacks or tea preparation but food is still cooked in traditional way from fuel wood. A typical household with 9 members claimed when they used LPG as their primary fuel, 1 LPG cylinder was consumed within 10 days, thus they found it infeasible to continue with it and switched back to old practice of cooking. Allied benefits of traditional cooking method: Majority of respondents claim the traditional practice of cooking using fuel wood have some major allied benefits too, these are indoor heating and reduced risk of malaria as smoke acts as a mosquito repellent. Cultural heritage: Rajasthan is famous for its rich cultural heritage which is very well reflected in its traditional cuisines. The aroma of wood smoke is highly revered in these preparations. People here claim food cooked on LPG stoves cannot garner the exquisite traditional taste. Failure of previous schemes and policies: The earlier schemes and programs aimed at abating IAP and improving energy security in rural areas were designed and executed in a perfunctory manner resulting in failure. This leads to lack of faith among masses towards new initiatives. We have attempted to decipher the reasons for failure of two such major schemes, from stakeholders perception. a. First was family type biogas Plant initiative under National Biogas and Manure Management Program, this scheme was launched in 1982 and provided over 67,172 family type biogas plants all over Rajasthan, by

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

26 year 2009 [NBMMP]. As per the stakeholders perception there were three major reason for failure of this scheme, i. People detest the strong pungent odour of biogas, as no gas cleaning mechanism was installed. Thus they avoided cooking on it. ii. The family size dome requires 20 to 100 kg of dung input everyday which was not feasible for most of the beneficiary families. iii. The dome along with its vicinity covered large space and restricts any possibility of house expansion. b. The second major scheme was distribution of Nirdhrum chullah. This scheme was initiated with an aim to improve stove efficiency and abate IAP but it could not achieve the desired outcomes. Based on stakeholders perception, the major reasons for its failure were: i. The system demands regular maintenance. ii. Many people gets tempted by the opportunity price of chimney pipe thus it was often taken out and utilized for other purpose or simply sold off. iii. The strength of chullah system was not enough to handle heavy cooking pots, which are often used due to large household size. iv. It restricts any alteration in kitchen arrangement. 10. Negative motivation towards sustainable and regulated wood gathering practice: The extra-territorial wood gathering can be deemed as an openaccess system. An intrinsic character of this system is over exploitation of the resource. To make the point clear, consider an individuals point of view, it makes no sense to her to gather in a regulated manner as she fears the wood she left will be taken up by someone else, thus it leads to over exploitation of resource. Along with this, there is no motivation for restoring or improving the resource, since the absence of ownership rights restricts the ability to enjoy the profit alone. Thus absence of a regulated and demarcated source for fuel wood leads to continuation of current unsustainable practice of wood gathering. Considering all the 10 constraints the first four were based on public awareness which can be improved through mass educating and awareness campaigns. While the remaining ones shall be treated as constraints of an optimization problem and the solution proposed should be in compliance with these.

27

Chapter 4.

Way Forward

With the majority of population and vast proportion of environmental resources belonging to rural areas, Sustainable rural development (SRD) deems essential for accomplishing the goal of sustainable and equitable economic growth of developing countries such as India. Energy being the vital input for development, to achieve the aim of sustainability the energy supply and utilization shall also be sustainable in nature. However, with due consideration to the diminishing wood cover and rapidly increasing demand, energy poverty in rural areas deems inevitable in near future. Even the most yielding option of energy plantation under social forestry is unable to sustain the present stage of consumption (estimated to be about 0.7 t/capita/annum [Tewari,P et al. 2003]). Thus, the present scenario of rural domestic energy supply and utilization demands immediate attention for improvement. Since development is a stepwise process and follows domino effect, it is very important to strike the least resistant block first. Typically a three pronged approach is considered for implementation of the project Indoor Air Pollution Mitigation and Awareness A Bottom-Up Approach, i) Mass Awareness; ii) Developing Improved chullah; iii) Developing foundation for supply sustainability

Mass Awareness:
Mass awareness and education is vital for successful implementation of any social project. There has been a very recent achievement credited to mass awareness. A laudable feat has been achieved by NRHM through mass awareness programs during the past decade. As a result, the percentage of institutional deliveries in rural areas of Jalore has increased from 33.4% during 2007-08 to 80.2% during 2011-12 [IIPS, 2010 and PCTS]. As the saying goes, Need is the mother of deed, it is very important to make people realize the need for improving the present unsustainable energy supply and utilization scenario, so as to ensure their proactive participation which is mandatory for successful implementation of the project. The basic issues that shall be imparted to rural population through awareness are: 1. Awareness regarding extreme health outcomes from smoke: As quoted in previous chapter, mostly women are not aware of the serious implications from long term exposure to smoke. It is thus important to educate them about the risks and behavioural interventions to abate direct exposure to smoke. The key behavioural interventions are: a. Employing improved cooking practices, like, pre-soaking and use of lids to reduce cooking time and thus exposure to smoke.

28 b. Utilizing properly dried woods: As it has been observed, even apparently moist wood was often used which in turns exasperates the smoke level. c. Keeping young children away from cooking area: it has been observed as a common trend, mothers used to keep their young children around at the time of cooking. This leads to high exposure to children who are most vulnerable to smoke. d. To cover their face with thin cloth to reduce direct exposure to smoke, especially to eyes. Although this has been a traditional practice in these areas due to cultural values, properly covering face is beneficial. 2. Awareness regarding opportunity cost incurred during wood collection and extended cooking periods: it is very important to make people realize the opportunity cost aspect of their lost time. Since it is a traditional practice, most of the people are inured towards this time lost. It is important to make them realize the value of their time. In addition to this, to enhance their income opportunity an integral part of awareness campaign shall be to make women aware of policies related to establishment of women self help groups, SMIs under cooperative structure. Also, training sessions can be envisaged to enhance skills and promote better economic opportunities for women. 3. Environmental awareness: it is very important to make people aware of the intricacies of environment as it is often taken for granted. Thus, basic environment knowledge shall be imparted along with the grave impacts the current energy supply trend have on environment. However, for deep inculcation of knowledge among masses, it is very important to garner their faith and have sound communication with them. Thus, a bi-level awareness campaign is suggested. In this process a selected group of women from every village shall be educated first and they can further impart this knowledge to the deepest strata of villages, through organized meetings and informal social gatherings. During the reconnaissance survey it has been observed, the village ANM, Anganwadi karykarta and Asha sahyogini enjoys good reputation and remains in regular contact with women from most of the households. Thus, they shall be chosen as the initial lot from every village for promoting awareness (Picture 14). In addition to targeting women, it is of utter importance to target young girls, as they too are active participants in household chores. Thus, awareness campaigns in village primary and secondary schools can be very beneficial for deep percolation of knowledge among rural households (Picture 15).

29

Picture 14: Our team worker educating the prominent women (Anganwadi and Asha sahyogini) about the impacts and behavioural interventions to abate IAP ( in the village Pijopura, Jalore)

Picture 15: Imparting awareness towards IAP and behavioural interventions to abate it ( to school girls In secondary school Sanphara, Jalore).

Thus the specific activities for mass awareness shall be: 1. Developing a concise module for awareness campaigning. 2. Appointing and imparting training to campaigners group from each village (preferably women). 3. Conducting mass awareness campaigns. 4. Targeting the informal practice of gossiping among women. This well known mode of information dissipation among women shall be well exploited to reach the deepest strata of the village.

Development of improved wood chullah:

As initiation of improved energy supply system is our prime objective. Against the much lucrative and advanced options of biogas or subsidized LPG supply, we are recommending improved wood chullah first. In accordance with the constraints and expectations of people we have outlined the basic physical characteristics of an improved wood chullah (IWC) as follows: 1. It should be capable of working with heterogeneous mix of woods. Although, wood utilized should be properly dried and chopped (need not be symmetrical though). 2. It should be portable and shouldnt cover too much space. 3. It should not cause any infrastructural rearrangement as this will draw heavy resistance from users. 4. Strength should be adequate to handle up to 10 Kg. 5. Cost should not be more than INR 500. It should be preferably in between INR 250 to 300.

30 6. Most importantly, it should be simple in looks and handling. In addition to these desired physical characteristics the basic attributes of improved wood chullah should be reduction in indoor smoke by 90% and increased fuel efficiency up to 60% in working conditions. The dissemination mechanism of chullah is vital for attaining the aim of energy sustainability. At present people in rural areas are very much reluctant to invest from their own pockets towards any developmental initiative, as they aspire for free distribution through government subsidies. However, it is well evident a subsidy driven solution can never be sustainable in long run. Thus, we propose an indigenous system for dissemination of improved chullah. A pseudo market shall be developed regulated under the gram panchayat. In the initial stage the target shall be to expand customer base through generating need (through awareness campaign) and providing the chullah at a price equalling 90 percentile of willingness to pay of the rural population. The overall aim of this system is to stimulate the market for improved chullah, thus it is of utter importance, the proposed chullah shall be in compliance with the expectations and constraints of people and fulfil all the promised attributes, primarily: significant improvement in energy efficiency (targeted 60% in normal working conditions), reduced IAP (abatement by at least 90%) and ease to handle. Thus the specific activities targeted towards this end shall be: 1. Development of an economical improved chullah in compliance with the aforementioned characteristics. 2. Carrying out extensive primary survey to determine the willingness to pay in order to cap the price of improved chullah. 3. Developing factory setup at village panchayat level for industrial production of improved chullah. 4. Promotional campaigning to expedite uptake rate of improved chullah.

Developing foundation for supply sustainability:

Fuel wood caters majority of domestic energy demand in rural areas (often more than 90%). In absence of any other potential alternative it is perceived, the dependence on fuel wood will continue to dominate the rural domestic energy supplies. However, the availability of this pro-poor fuel is declining rapidly. The unregulated practice of extra-territorial gathering is further expediting this phenomenon. Thus, to eliminate the eminent threat of energy poverty it is high time to adopt the most yielding option of energy plantation under renewable social forestry. The rationale behind this system shall be to develop a sustainable supply source and inception of a regulated fuel wood market.

31 We have interviewed a prominent scientist from Central Arid Zone Research Institute (CAZRI), Jodhpur, Dr. J.C. Tewari, principal scientist (forestry). Based on his expert advice we have reached a consensus, Prosopis Juliflora (Vilayati Babul) offers a decent option for energy plantation (Box 4). This species is already credited with almost 70% of the fuel wood supply in arid, western Rajasthan [Faroda and Singh, 1998; Tewari et al. 2003]. The village common property resource and wastelands are densely covered with thickets of P.Juliflora. However due to unregulated over exploitation this resource has degraded phenomenally, as the old growth of this species which eventually forms P.Juliflora woodland has virtually disappeared and only currently 2 to 3 year old coppice shoots were found to spread densely in the entire area as bushy thickets [Tewari,P et al. 2003]. Thus, we perceive managing this resource will reap great benefits. Based on the empirical data of density of plantation (2500 trees/ha for the purpose of energy plantation) and yield per tree (30 kg/tree at 5 year age and 100 kg/tree at 10 year age) [Tewari,J.C et al. 2000], we made a rough estimation of the land requirement for renewable social forestry utilizing P.Juliflora for energy plantation, under two consumption scenarios as presented in the Table 22.

Box 4: Characteristic of Prosopis juliflora Since colonial times, many fast growing and well adapted exotic woody species from iso- climatic regions of the world have been introduced in Indias arid and semi arid regions among which Prosopis juliflora is the most important. Prosopis juliflora, commonly known as Vilayati babool, was introduced only 130 years back but due to its tremendous ability to adapt to arid and semi-arid environments, and its fast growth and multiple utility; this species has spread over large swaths of India. It is found especially in areas with 150 750 mm mean annual rainfall and maximum shade temperatures of 40 450 C. The species can withstand droughts even at seedling stage and the water requirement for this species is also minimal and if the required water regime is followed in the first year than the plant does not need any irrigation facilities further. At present P. juliflora provides around 75% of the fuelwood needs of the rural arid and semi-arid India and is recognized as one of the most versatile species for afforestation by foresters. Though P. juliflora is of great importance to most of the rural communities in both arid and semi-arid regions, its full potential still has not been realized. Though in the present era the species is used widely in plantation forestry activities in wastelands, village common lands, grazing lands, along railway lines, and canals, and degraded forest lands but still a large scope is left for it. In order to tackle the problem of energy crisis it can act as the solution, the species can widely be grown for the purpose of energy plantation as the wood of this plant burns evenly and does not smoke excessively, even the calorific value of this species is high i.e 4200 kcal/kg. The planters can also use this species for the development of silvo-pastoral land. The minimum spacing requirements for the development of energy plantation and silvo- pastoral land according to the experts of CAZRI are given below: Spacing requirement for various types of P. juliflora plantations. Plantation type Main Energy plantation Silvopastoral Fuel wood production Fuel; fodder (pod) Purpose Secondary (a) Charcoal making (b) Pod/seed production Production of grasses/animals; Shade for animals Spacing Row to Row (m) (a) 3 (b) 2 0 Plant to Plant (m) (a) 1 (b) 2 Density (individuals/ha) (a) 3333 (b) 2500

200

The calculations for land estimation are done from approximate values of Density and yield of energy plantation utilizing P.Juliflora and the approximate consumption rate of fuelwood. Actual requirement shall be calculated from statistically significant inputs.

32

Box 4. Continues.
The researchers have observed wide differences in fuelwood yields from different agro-climatic zones and even in the same land forms. Even a slight difference in soil and climate can result in much variability in biomass production. Fuelwood yields from plantations established on bare sites of Thar Desert by the researchers are listed below: Average fuelwood yield of P. juliflora at four locations in the Thar Desert, Rajasthan. Tree age (yrs) Fuelwood yield (kg/tree) Jhunjunu Sardarshahar Bikaner Gadra Road (RF*= 395mm) (RF*= 268mm) (RF*= 285mm) (RF*= 285mm) 4 42 15 16 5 37 24 42 6 36 44 7 79 38 8 139 50 9 52 42 10 137 54 -

RF= Average total annual rainfall. (Source: Muthana and Arora 1983)
Allied Benefits of P. juliflora: P. juliflora is an important source of domestic fuel apart from this it is also used as a fuel in many small scale industries. In many parts of Rajasthan and Gujarat charcoal is often produced from P. juliflora. The price of charcoal varies from place to place but generally, a 20 kg bag of P. juliflora charcoal is sold for Rs 50. Apart from this P. juliflora has also been considered as a fuel for generation of electricity, either by direct burning or via gasification. It is considered superior to coal as its sulphur content is low. The wood of this species can also be used as round wood or processed into chips or sawn wood. Long and relatively less straight pieces can be used for posts and poles. Even a straight bole tree can be used in the furniture industry also. Beside this P. juliflora have long been used as a fodder for the cattle of arid and semi-arid region of the country. In most of the cases the pod is directly consumed by the cattle but now some efforts have been made to use the pods as a processed livestock ration also. It has been reported by the Vivekanand Research and Training Institute, Mandvi, Bhuj, that the processed pods increased milk yield from cattle by more than 20%. The gum exudes from P. juliflora is not of superior quality because of the presence of alkaloids, but is used in many textile mills, in confectionaries and in processing betel for use in pan (betel leaves). P. juliflora seed contain galactomannan polysaccharide, so the seed gum is used as a thickener, stabilizer and gelifier in products like ice-cream, sauces, cheese, yoghurt and sausages. P. juliflora syrup also has several medicinal values like it is given to children showing weight deficiencies or retardation in motor development, helps to increase lactation among feeding mothers, considered good for digestive system and skin lesions. Despite having so many allied benefits P. juliflora for many of the rural households is a disaster rather than a resource. They consider that the species adversely affects crop growth and production (the claim is however scientifically unproven), some even consider it a weed because of its rapidly colonizing ability, and the most important fact due to which it does not get the due respect is the thorny stems and branches it posses which often cause injury to humans and animals. Whatever disadvantages the species has, one thing is important that this is the species which have unique ability to colonize even in such edapho-climatically inhospitable sites, where a single blade of grass does not grow. So it is important to change our perspective towards the P. juliflora and treat it as a vital resource for the rural development.

Source: Tewari,J.C et al. 2000

Table 2: Land requirement for energy plantation.

fuelefficiency consumption (t/capita/annum) 0.7 0.15 LandRequiredper1000 population(ha) 5yearrotation3 10yearrotation 47 28 10 6

10% 60%
3

In a five year rotational system, the total land shall be divided in five equal parts and each year one portion shall be harvested and the previous portion be re-planted, here the rotation is the length of time the trees grows before they are harvested. Thus, maintaining a sustainable supply at all the times (same way for ten year rotation).

33 At the present level of consumption the land requirement is very high and often exceeds the land available under village common property resource and wastelands for the purpose of social forestry. However, under the targeted scenario of achieving 60% fuel efficiency by improved stoves the expected consumption rate of fuel wood lowers down significantly. Based on the estimations shown in Table 2 we are proposing an indigenous land management system as follows: 1. 10 hectares land (per 1000 population) shall be covered under energy plantation for early harvesting (after 2 years). 2. 6 hectares land (per 1000 population) shall be covered under energy plantation, protected for a period of 10 years. Social forestry is one aspect of the solution; the other vital aspect is to develop a complementary market for fuel wood regulated and authorized under village panchayat. The rationales behind developing fuel wood market are as follows: 1. To restrict the present trend of open source harvesting, which eventually leads to over exploitation of resource. 2. To supply processed fuel wood (properly dried and chopped) so as to ensure improved fuel efficiency. 3. To reduce drudgery of women and children (mostly female) involved in fuel wood gathering. 4. It will become a significant employment source in rural areas. With an aim to cover majority of households under the processed fuel wood market the following basic characteristics are envisaged: 1. The price of wood shall be capped at willingness to pay or opportunity cost of gathering. 2. The quantity of wood sold should be regulated to avoid hoarding and price manipulations. 3. In order to motivate people for buying fuel wood, awareness campaigns shall be conducted, highlighting the benefits of time-savings and improved fuel efficiency from processed wood. 4. Allied programs for promoting womens income opportunities, like self help groups, SMIs shall be promoted. So that people can apparently perceive the benefits of time-savings. 5. The whole system can be made an integral part of governments rural employment generation schemes, such as MNREGA.

34

An integrated roadmap to achieve energy sustainability:

With an aim to attain sustainability by the end of this decade, i.e, 2022, considering the socio-economic and psychological barriers in the path of improved energy supply system, we have perceived an indigenous development roadmap as presented in Table 3. At each level public inertia towards improvement will lower down as in analogy with the energy ladder. Table 3: Targeted roadmap to achieve energy sustainability
Activities Health Impacts of IAP Awareness regarding opportunity cost Motivation to buy fuel wood from authorized market Awareness towards afforestation/deforestation Development and dissemination of improved model utilizing heterogeneous and unprocessed mix of fuel wood. (Efficiency 60%) Development and dissemination of improved model utilizing processed fuel wood. (Efficiency 90%) Land allocation and energy plantation (per 1000 population):10 ha, for early harvesting Supply source sustainability 6 ha, protected for 10 years initiate Targeted accomplishments Year 1 Year 5 Initiate and; In all fields awareness Determine >90%. present awareness Covering level through school girls primary and women. survey >75% coverage 100% Coverage initiate Year 10

Awareness

100%

initiate

Improved chullah

Rotational harvesting meeting demand

Can be utilized for other purposes Rotational harvesting for meeting future demand in sustainable manner. 100% coverage

Initiate

protected

Market for processed fuel wood.

initiate

75% coverage

After the inception of the program, the first year of the proposed roadmap shall primarily be dedicated to extensive primary survey and development of policy framework. The key activities during the first year shall be; 1. Development of financial mechanism: since this project is primarily concerned with inclusive growth of rural areas, various financing avenues can be targeted including; National biomass cookstove initiative (NBIC), Ministry of rural development, National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), Rural employment generation schemes such as MNREGA, along with these the international initiatives such as the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves (GACC), led by the United Nations Foundation and the Global Environment Facility, Carbon

35 Funds, and Climate Investment Funds offer potential opportunities for financing. 2. Development of improved chullah model, in compliance with the constraints and expectations. Along with policy formulation for large scale manufacturing and dissemination. 3. Land allocation and plantation (energy plantation) under social forestry. 4. Initiation of awareness campaigns. With an optimistic perception it is assumed all the stages shall be functional as planned. The target shall be to achieve following goals by the 5th year: 1. Awareness should have been reached to the deepest strata of the village. 2. Market for improved chullah and processed fuel wood shall be well established, with atleast 75% population (primarily fuel wood users) covered. 3. At this stage the fuel wood consumption rate shall be lowered down to 150 kg/capita/annum through enhanced fuel efficiency. Thus the 10 ha land (per 1000 population) allocated for early harvesting can meet the demand sustainably through rotational harvesting (at five year frequency). 4. By this time it is expected people should have well perceived the benefits of utilizing improved chullah and buying processed fuel wood from authorized market, both in terms of economy and quality of life. 5. The need for fuel wood gathering by households should have been erased by this time. Considering the significant improvement in economic opportunities and quality of life, people will be motivated to adopt even new sophisticated technologies which can reach fuel efficiency up to 90%, thus bringing down the consumption rate to 100 kg/capita/annum. By the 10th year the protected 6 hectare land (per 1000 population), which by then would have been developed into a old-growth woodland with very high yield (in range of 150 kg/tree) will be capable to sustain future demand, through rotational harvesting (at 10 year frequency). Thus by 10th year the goal of achieving sustainable energy shall be accomplished.

36

Chapter 5.

Conclusion

Even after more than five decades of introducing LPG for domestic purposes almost 70% of Indian population, mostly in rural areas are still living under the blanket of smoke due to continuous dependence on unprocessed biomass based fuels (the exact number will be revealed in Census of India 2011). A major fraternity of researchers projecting future energy demand scenarios reckons fuel wood will remain the prominent source of domestic energy for rural folks in India for next many decades. In cognizance with this hunch our estimates reveals more than 95% households in rural areas of Jalore tehsil are primarily dependent on fuel wood. This dependence however comes at a huge price. Majorly the consequences can be categorized as follows: 6. Health impacts: IAP is a major cause of ill health in rural areas. Most vulnerable are young children and women. 7. Economic loss: this practice has severely affected the economy in rural households directly and indirectly, through - expenditures on illness, exceptionally high fuel wood demand due to low fuel efficiency resulting in extra time for gathering, and if directly bought higher prices incurred. 8. Escalating gender disparity: since, mostly women and young girls have to bear the drudgery of wood gathering and cooking under smoky environments, they are most vulnerable to negative consequences, such as health problems due to IAP, opportunity lost due to time spend in gathering woods, and extended cooking periods as well as days lost in illness. 9. Threat of energy scarcity: The over exploitation of natural resources catalyzed by absence of a regulated mechanism for wood supply leads to depreciation of wood cover. 10. Ecological degradation: since, wood gathering is done as an open harvest system; no care has been taken for restoration activities, leading to reduced wood cover. The wood scarcity has led to emergence of an informal wood market, which being unregulated leads to over exploitation of resources. All these consequences are deeply interwoven and will eventually lead the rural population to a convoluted spiral of energy scarcity and poverty. Thus, this is high time to treat this exigent issue with a holistic approach. Although the nature of problem is global but the interventions for remediation should be indigenous. A guiding policy framework for remediation of this situation is proposed by us, with due consideration to enhanced public participation citing their constraints and expectations. At present the consumption of fuel wood is very high, estimated to be about 0.7t/capita/annum (it might be significantly more as precise

37 quantification is very tough considering the informal and varied nature of gathering and utilization) mainly due to poor burning efficiency as most of the households utilize traditional chullah. The target shall be to improve fuel efficiency to such a level that within a decade the consumption rate should lower down to 0.1t/capita/annum. This can be achieved with a three-pronged approach: 4. Development and dissemination of improved chullah: The Improved chullah shall be developed in compliance with local constraints and expectations. Dissemination mechanism should not be supply based; rather stress should be to stimulate the market for improved stoves. 5. Development of social forestry (with a concept of rotational harvesting): It is high time to adopt energy plantation at industrious pace. The plantation species and management shall be under guidance of forestry experts. In Jalore region, P.Juliflora offers a decent option for wood harvesting. A complementary wood market regulated under the aegis of village panchyats shall be developed. The target shall be to erase the need for wood gathering, by providing well processed wood at willingness to pay price. 6. Awareness programs: awareness campaigns are vital for the successful implementation of any social project. It is important to highlight schools and prominent women to reach the deepest strata. This framework is however, based on reconnaissance study, thus a detailed field study shall be conducted with following aim: 1. To determine exact proportion of dependency on fuel wood and its source. 2. To determine the opportunity cost lost in wood gathering, extra time incurred due to slow cooking. 3. Cost incurred on medical issues attributed to IAP. 4. To determine the statistically significant consumption rate of fuel wood. 5. Determination of exact land requirement for social forestry for the purpose of developing a sustainable wood supply system, under rotational harvesting. 6. Determination of willingness to pay for improved chullah and fuel wood. 7. The environmental cost associated with current practice to cap the overall budget of the program. It is believed this indigenous strategy can lead to energy sustainability and steer clear the path of sustainable and equitable development in the rural areas.

38

References
AHS, 2011. Annual Health Survey 2010 2011. Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India. Available at http://censusindia.gov.in/vital_statistics/AHSBulletins/files/09Rajasthan_AHS_Bulletin__23x36_.pdf Accessed on November 2011. Bruce, N., R. Perez-Padilla, and R. Albalak. 2002. The Health Effects of Indoor Air Pollution Exposure in Developing Countries. Geneva: World Health Organization. Census of India, 2011. Directorate of Census Operations Rajasthan. Available from Collectorate Jalore. Desai MA, Mehta S, Smith KR. Indoor smoke from solid fuels: Assessing the environmental burden of disease at national and local levels. Geneva, World Health Organization, 2004 (WHO Environmental Burden of Disease Series, No. 4). Ezzati, M., Saleh, H., and Kammen, D. M., 2000. The Contributions of Emissions and Spatial Microenvironments to Exposure to Indoor Air Pollution from Biomass Combustion in Kenya. Environmental Health Perspectives 108: 8339. Faroda,A.S and Singh,M. 1998. Fifty Years of Arid Zone Research. Central Arid Zone Research Institute, Jodhpur, India. pp. 478 GoI, Planning commission, 11th Five Year Plan. Chapter Three Forest. Available at http://planningcommission.nic.in/plans/planrel/fiveyr/11th/11_v3/11v3_ch3.pdf Accessed on January 2012 Gulati, S.C., and Sharma, S., 2000. Population Pressure and Deforestation in India. Population Research Centre, Institute of Economic Growth, Delhi. Available at www.corecentre.co.in/Database/Docs/.../population_pressure.pdf Accessed January 2012 HDR, Rajasthan, 2008 . Human Development Report, Rajasthan, 2008. Available at http://statistics.rajasthan.gov.in/Details/hd_final.pdf Accessed on November 2011 Hutton,G., Rehfuess,E., Tediosi,F., and Weiss,S. 2006. Evaluation of the cost and benefits of household energy and health interventions at global and regional levels. World Health Organisation Press. Available at http://www.who.int/indoorair/publications/household_energy_health_intervention.pdf Accessed on January 2012 IEA, 2010. Biomass consumption in India. Available at http://www.iea.org/country/Poverty_India/Biomass2.pdf . Accessed January 2012. Accessed January 2012. IEPR, 2006. Government of India Planning Commission. Integrated Energy Policy Report of the Expert Committee. August 2006. Available at http://planningcommission.nic.in/reports/genrep/rep_intengy.pdf Accessed February 2012. International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS), 2010. District Level Household and Facility Survey (DLHS-3), 2007-08: India. Rajasthan: Mumbai: IIPS. Available at http://www.rchiips.org/pdf/rch3/report/RJ.pdf Accessed on February 2012 IREP, Integrated Rural Energy Program. Details of Integrated Rural Energy Planning, IREP. Available at http://india.gov.in/citizen/agriculture/viewscheme.php?schemeid=1269 Accessed on January 2012 Khan,M.A., Tewari,J.C., Singh,R., and Narain,P. 2006. Structure, production attributes and management strategies in a traditional extensive agroforestry system in an arid region watershed of India. Forests, Trees and Livelihoods, Vol. 16, pp. 227 246 Kishore, V.V.N., and Ramana, P.V., 2002. Improved cookstoves in rural India: how improved are they? A critique of the perceived benefits from the National Programme on Improved Chulhas (NPIC), Elsevier, 27(1), pp. 47-63.

39
Laxmi,V., Parikh,J., Karmakar,S., and Dabrase,P. 2003. Household energy, womens hardship and health impacts in rural Rajasthan, India: need for sustainable energy solutions. Energy for Sustainable Development. Vol.7. No. 1. Pp. 50 68. Mishra,V., Retherford,R.D., Smith,K.R. 2002. Indoor Air Pollution: The Quite Killer. Asia Pacific Issues. Analysis from the East-West Center No. 63. Available http://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/bitstream/handle/10125/3830/api063.pdf?sequence=1 Accessed on January 2012 MNRE (a), Ministry of New and Renewable Energy. Available at http://www.mnre.gov.in/mission-and-vision-2/mission-and-vision/ Accessed January 2012 MNRE, 2001. Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, Annual Report 2001-02. Available at http://www.mnre.gov.in/annualreport/2001_2002_English/ch3_pg9.htm Accessed February 2012 MoEF, Ministry of Environment and Forest, Peoples dependence on forest Available at http://moef.nic.in/divisions/forprt/jfm/html/people.htm Accessed February 2012. Muthana, K.D. and Arora, G.D. 1983. Effects of seed weight on germination and seedling quality of Prosopis juliflora (SW) DC. Annals of Arid Zone 33 (3): 253 -254. NBCI, National Biomass Cookstove Initiative. Ministry of New and Renewable Energy. Available at http://www.mnre.gov.in/related-links/decentralized-systems/national-biomass-cookstovesinitiative/ Accessed January 2012 NBMMP, National Biogas and Manure Management Program. Available at http://www.mnre.gov.in/related-links/decentralized-systems/schems-2/ Accessed February 2012 NSS Report No.530: Highlights, 2007-08. Available at http://mospi.nic.in/mospi_new/upload/nsso/530_Highlights.pdf Accessed January 2012 Pachauri Shonali, 2011. Energy Access in the Developing World: Present State and Efforts to Improve It. Smart Energy Strategies Conference, ETHZ. September 23, 2011. Available at http://www.esc.ethz.ch/ses11/Pachauri_presentation.pdf Accessed February, 2012. Pandey, D., 2002, Fuelwood Studies in India: Myth and Reality. Centre for international Forestry Research ISBN. Available at http://www.cifor.org/publications/pdf_files/Books/Fuelwood.pdf Accessed January 2012 Parikh J, Smith K, Laxmi V. Indoor Air Pollution: a reflection on gender bias. Econ Polit Wkly 1999; 34:53944. PCTS, Pregnancy, Child Tracking & Health Services Management System, by Medical, Health & Family Welfare department, Govt. of Rajasthan. Available at http://pctsrajmedical.raj.nic.in/ Accessed on February 2012. Ramakrishna, J., Durgaprasad, M. B., and Smith K. R., 1989. Cooking in India: The impact of improved stoves on indoor air quality. Environ Int, 15(1), 341-352 Saksena S, Thompson L, Smith KR, 2003. Database of Household Air Pollution Studies in Developing Countries, Protection of the Human Environment, WHO, Geneva. Available at http://ehs.sph.berkeley.edu/hem/page.asp?id=33 Accessed January 2012 Shailaja,R., 2000. Women, energy and sustainable development. Energy for Sustainable Development Volume 4, Issue 1, Pages 4564. Shukla P.R, Biomass Energy in India: Transition from Traditional to Modern. Published in The Social Engineer, Vol. 6, No. 2. Available at http://www.decisioncraft.com/energy/papers/ecc/re/biomass/bti.pdf Accessed January 2012 Sinha, B. 2002. The Indian stove programme: an insiders view the role of society, politics, economics and education. Boiling Point No 48. pp. 23 26 http://practicalaction.org/docs/energy/docs48/bp48_pp23-26.pdf Accessed on January 2012

40
Smith, K.R., Aggarwal, A.L., and Dave, R.M., 1983. Air pollution and rural biomass fuels in developing countries: a pilot village study in India and implications for research and policy, Atmospheric Environment, 17(11), pp. 2343-2362 Smith K.R. The dialectics of improved stoves. Econ Polit Wkly 1989; 24:51722. Smith, K.R., Gu Shuhua, Huang Kun and Qiu Daxiong, 1993. One Hundred Million Improved Cookstoves in China: How was it done? World Development, Vol. 21, No. 6, pp 941- 961. Pergamon Press Ltd. Available at www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0305750X9390053C Accessed January 2012 Smith, K.R. 2000. National burden of disease in India from Indoor Air Pollution. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 97 (24): 1328693 Smith, K.R. 2000. Indoor Air Pollution implicated in alarming health problems. In: Indoor Air Pollution Energy and Health for the Poor. Newsletter published by World Bank, p.1 TERI, 1989 (Tata Energy Research Institute). Evaluation of Improved Stoves in Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan and West Bengal, Tata Energy Research Institute reporting to the Department of Non-conventional Energy Sources, New Delhi. TERI, 2010 (Tata Energy Research Institute). Indoor Air Pollution: A Case for Change. Available at http://www.teriin.org/div/CES/Policy_brief_Indoor_air_pollution.pdf Accessed January 2012 Tewari,J.C., Harris,P.J.C., Harsh, L.N., Cadoret,K. and Pasiecznik,N.M. 2000. Managing Prosopis juliflora (Vilayati babul) A Technical Manual. Central Arid Zone Research Institute, Jodhpur and Henry Doubleday Research Association, Coventry.96 pp. Tewari,P., Tewari,J.C., Tripathi,D., Kaushish,S., Harsh,L.N., and Narain,P.2003. Utilisation of domestic fuelwood in a typical village of Indian hot arid zone. Journal of Tropical Forest Products 9(1&2): 1-14. Venkataraman, C., Sagar, A.D., Habib,G., Lam,N., and Smith,K.R. 2010. The Indian National Initiative for Advanced Biomass Cookstoves: The benefits of clean combustion. ElsevierEnergy for Sustainable Development 14, pp. 63 72. WHO, 2002. World Health Report 2002. World Health Organization Available at http://www.who.int/whr/en/ Accessed on January 2012 WHO, World Health Organisation. Available at http://www.who.int/indoorair/health_impacts/burden_global/en/ Accessed January 2012 World Bank (a), Access of the Poor to Clean Household Fuels in India. available at siteresoursces.worldbank.org/INDIAEXTN/Resources/ReportsPublications/Access-Of-Poor/FullReport.pdf Accessed January 2012 World Bank, 1996. Rural Energy and Development: Improving Energy Supplies for Two Billion People. Washington, DC: World Bank. World Bank, 2011. Household Cookstoves, Environment, Health, and Climate Change: A New Look at an Old Problem. Available at http://cleancookstoves.org/wpcontent/uploads/2011/05/Household-Cookstoves.pdf Accessed on January 2012.

41

Annex I. Relative Risk for Strong and Moderate Health Outcomes

Evidence

Health Outcome

Group (Sex, age in years) Children < 5 Women> 30 Men > 30

Relative Risk 2.3 3.2 1.8

Confidence Interval 1.9 2.7 2.3 4.8 1.0 3.2

ALRI Strong COPD Moderate - I COPD Lung Cancer (from exposure to biomass smoke) Asthma Moderate - II Asthma Cataracts Tuberculosis

Women > 30

1.5

1.0 2.1

Children 5 - 14 All >15 All >15 All >15

1.6 1.2 1.3 1.5

1.0 2.5 1.0 1.5 1.0 1.7 1.0 2.4

Abbreviations: ALRI = acute lower respiratory infection; COPD = chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. (Source Desai MA et al., 2004)

42

Annex II. Copy of Authority Letter from District Collector, Jalore.