Efficient wood-burning stoves and wood gardens for community-based forest conservation and good living

The forests or woodyards provide energy autonomy, and the stoves encourage the efficient use of the energy generated by the combustion of firewood when preparing food. These experiences strengthened the work in community conservation of Andean forests, with the declaration of peasant and community reserves.

At the community level, a training and replication process was carried out, which began with the training of a community promoter in alternative energies; currently, more people from the community have joined and been trained, many of whom are women.

In environmental terms, smoke emissions in the home and firewood consumption were reduced, with savings of close to 40%. In addition to firewood, these trees provide organic matter to the soil, help reduce the application of chemical fertilizers and provide shade for the coffee crop, and produce high quality beans. 

The community was also trained in tree pruning techniques to maximize the use of firewood.

On the other hand, the mingas (gatherings) and exchanges are a dynamizing axis of the process and motivate the linking of new families, strengthen solidarity relations between neighbors and the appropriation of the territory.

The popular training in alternative energies provides technical independence for the assembly of the stoves and allows the experiences to be adapted to the socio-cultural context. 

In terms of food, the use of ovens allows the preparation of a variety of foods such as bread, cakes and arepas based on traditional recipes using chachafruit, plantain, citron, potato and pumpkin. 

This process contributes to good living and is articulated with agroecological production, with emphasis on agroforestry systems.

Technical characteristics of the proposal

1. Review of the site for the stove assembly, according to the available space and the needs of the family, this is also taken into account in the hardware to be used in the construction of the stove.
2. Adequacy of the space for assembly, leveling of floors, casting of the plate on which the stove is built. 
3. The first two courses of bricks (refractory bricks, especially for stoves) are installed on the slab. Above these are located two registers whose function is to scale and sweep the stove, and when required, the internal divisions are made for the ash and the ramp for the smoke outlet. 
4. Three more courses of bricks are glued and the furnace and the first pipe for the smoke outlet are located.
5. Two additional courses of brick are glued and the wood burning chamber grate is assembled. 
6. Two or three more courses of bricks are glued, and the door to the firewood combustion chamber is put in place.
7. The assembly of the two iron plates and a water heater and a square is made, the tile is installed.
8. After construction, it is left to dry for 15 to 20 days. Once the drying time is over, when the stove is lit, at the exit of the smoke, a wick is lit so that the smoke pulls and comes out. It is recommended that the firewood be selected and cut to the size of the stove combustion bed.

Productive, community, environmental, or economic processes or activities that were positively impacted by the implementation of the community experience of TEJ.

The alternative energy experience is linked to a community process of diversification of agroecological planting and production that is strengthened through various practices:

• Forage orchards and silage for the production of feed for livestock species. 
• Bench terraces on contour lines, built for vegetable production, are for family self-consumption and are associated with the rescue and conservation of native seeds.

• Use of diverse sources of organic matter and local resources for the elaboration of organic fertilizers potentized with minor elements and microorganisms.
• Food processing, in the generation of added value to the products. The solar dehydrator is used with plantain, cassava, bore and pumpkin. 
• Rescue and conservation of Creole hens in grazing pens.
• Family nurseries for the multiplication of plant material, whose purpose is the diversification of crops and the incorporation of woody orchards.
• Agroecology and crop diversification made it possible to overcome the coffee monoculture model; economic alternatives were expanded and families are no longer dependent on a single crop; food sovereignty and energy transition were strengthened, based on local capacities and the defense of the territory.

Women’s participation in the TEJ community experience

The agroecology process began in 2013, with the participation of a local woman. Currently, women lead community processes, promote mingas and provide training on agroecology; over time, they have gained space in decision-making in the management of their plots and in the valuation they make of agro-biodiversity, based on the rescue of native seeds. 

Through the diversification of crops, the economic alternative for women was expanded, they also carry out processes for the management of resources from raffles, raising chickens and planting beans and roasting coffee for sale. 

The women have innovated recipes with local products that are undervalued in the food supply, such as bore, banana and chachafruto, which, thanks to the benefits of agro-ecosystems, are abundant in the area; these products are used to make masato, cakes and low-fat breads baked on wood stoves. 

Within the association, the women learned to build the stoves, a manual activity that was previously performed only by men. This experience has allowed the women to improve their self-esteem and technical knowledge.

Impact of the community experience of TEJ on public policy

Have participated in a Latin American campaign on gender equity and empowerment of peasant and indigenous women’s groups – Mujeres 2030: «Towards good living with gender justice and environmental equity: gender analysis of the Sustainable Development Goals in 5 Latin American countries».

https://globalforestcoalition.org/es/lac-gender-assessments-report/