Amurum Forest Reserve Fuel-efficient Brick Wood Stove Project
In 2008, Sustainability and Conservation Education for Rural Areas (SCERA) carried out a community participatory project
aimed at reducing the impact of human on the forest through involvement of support zone communities. In line with its objectives,
SCERA carried out several projects within the three communities, Laminga, Zarazon and Kerker, surrounding the Amurum Forest
Reserve. One of these included the construction and introduction of a fuel-efficient brick wood stove to communities around
the Reserve. 50 women and some youths were trained on stove construction by a team of Swedish pottery experts, Henrik Dahl,
Dan Wahlstrom and Annie Lindgren. It was hoped that this would reduce wood exploitation in the forest and that the sales of
the stoves will serve as an alternative to the use of the three-stone open fire, the highly unsustainable but common means
of cooking within these communities. It was also anticipated that the brick stoves would serve as an alternative source of
income for the women, who earn their living mainly through sales of wood.
SCERA, in a bid to create awareness on the use of the fuel-efficient brick wood stove organized a carnival, 12 months after
the initiation of the project, to publicize the use of the stove in villages around the Forest Reserve. Seven villages were
visited and local people participated actively. The stove reduced the amount of wood used for cooking by 30%. A review of
the fuel-efficient stove project years later led to a training for communities in the repair of the stoves. An interesting
finding was that women, who were the main target during the project, were very interested in using the stove, but they were
not interested in producing the stove. Instead, the youths trained during the project took more interest in stove production
and started to produce and sell the stoves to the women. Supporting the women to come up with other alternative income
generating options became the next challenge.