Birds, Bees and Business (Fair trade)
In the south of Burkina Faso, many women depend on the harvest and processing of shea nuts, a raw material for food, but also for many care products. However, the habitat of the shea trees is deteriorating rapidly.
Climate change and pressure on the land as a result of the use of pesticides and overgrazing has affected the landscape of the shea trees. But the processing of shea nuts by the local women also has an impact on the environment. Cooking the nuts on a traditional “three stone fire” in particular means that a lot of wood is used.
This project offers local women the opportunity to use improved cookstoves, using ‘F3PA’ cookstoves made from local materials. These reduce wood consumption by 23.4% and thus reduce pressure on sourcing wood from local trees.
The project also trains women in a Climate Academy. Examples of activities are planting different trees, which leads to a more diverse landscape. This attracts bees and other insects, which in turn leads to better pollination and agricultural production. Women will benefit from an increase in the yield and sales of shea nuts and other (tree) products.
Co-benefits: Cleaner and safer cooking prevents inhalation of harmful smoke and burns, less pressure on local wood resources and protection of coffee forests, Women experience the convenience of cookstoves and can spend more time on family and education, Time savings and savings on fuel costs due to reduced wood use, local employment through the production of cookstoves.
Cookstoves for Coffee Farmers (Fair trade)
Ethiopia is the country where coffee was first discovered and where Arabica coffee originally comes from. Coffee is the largest export product and plays an important role in Ethiopian culture. Arabica originally grows here in the forest where the foliage of the shade trees protects the coffee bushes against temperature fluctuations. However, due to the increasing population pressure in the country, we are seeing increasing deforestation. This not only removes the shade trees, but also the unique wild types of coffee that grow in the coffee forests of Oromia. These varieties vary in tolerance to disease and drought and can be used for the development of new coffee varieties. These forests are therefore crucial for the survival of coffee in a changing climate.
In the areas where the coffee farmers live, cooking is often done indoors on an open wood fire. This is very harmful to the health of mainly women and children. In addition, the use of wood is a major cause of deforestation in the region. Via the cookstove program, farmer families are provided with a Mirt and a Tikikil, efficient cookstoves that reduce wood consumption and significantly reduce indoor smoke development.
Eight local Mirt and Tikikil workshops have now been set up and more than 6,000 households are equipped with efficient cookstoves. Users indicate that they suffer less from smoking-related complaints, such as coughing, burning eyes and headaches. Women who gather wood save on average about ten working hours a week or 2 to 3 euros a week if the wood has to be bought.
Orb Household Solar
With a growing middle class in India, demand for electricity outstrips supply causing regular blackouts for those connected to the grid. In rural areas, kerosene or other fossil fuels are used for energy and lighting, polluting the air inside homes.
This project has brought over 160,000 reliable solar power and solar water heating systems to customers throughout the country, while cutting around 55,000 tonnes of CO2e a year by replacing the use of kerosene or electricity from a grid reliant on fossil fuels.
Orb Energy manufactures, sells, installs and services a unique range of high-quality solar energy systems for residential and commercial customers in India. Businesses can operate for longer and more consistently with a solar energy system. Household solar water heating reduces electricity bills by more than 50% and lighting at home means greater opportunity for children to study after the sun goes down.
