Coral Cay Conservation (CCC) is working with BVCO to start a new fuel efficient and solar stove project in the coastal village of Ampasilava in southwest Madagascar.  This project will be enabled by carbon offset payments made by CCC staff and volunteers and will run in 2008.  This will be the first of a series of projects that CCC will enable through finance to mitigate the carbon emissions of staff and volunteers.

Ampasilava is a small community on the west coast of Madagascar.  It is approximately 150 km north of the provincial capital, Tulear, and 50km south of the town of Morombe (Figure 1).  It is a Vezo fishing community and has a population of approximately 350 people living in 65 households. Many of the inhabitants of Ampasilava earn less than US$1 per day and fuel expenditure is a notable proportion of their total income.

In southwest Madagascar, people currently use primarily wood and charcoal in three stone open fires. This is a highly inefficient way of cooking with a mere 13% of the energy contributing to the cooking process.  This efficiency can be greatly improved, helping to both reduce fuel consumption and carbon emissions.

Solar and fuel efficient stoves reduce the requirement for fuel wood and charcoal by around 4 times; benefiting the local community through cost reductions, time savings and improved health and safety conditions.  The environment benefits from reduced carbon emissions and also from reduced pressure on local forests.  The programme itself supports development by providing local employment in stove construction, distribution and monitoring; and promotes efficient cooking through education and awareness campaigns.

From this...

Solar stoves and energy efficient stoves reduce the requirement for fuel wood and charcoal by 50% - 70% (stove dependent). The stoves provide:

• Economic benefits - reducing costs, low carbon development path, and local employment
  
• Social benefits - reducing the time spent collecting wood, freeing time for other activities
  
• Health benefits – improving household air quality & reducing burn incidents
  
• Environment benefits - helping to reduce deforestation pressure along with helping make carbon dioxide reductions

Further detail on this programme can be found here:

As a CCC volunteer offsetting with the programme you will receive quarterly updates on the project in Ampasilava that you are helping through your carbon offset.

Your donation

£35 will fund the production, distribution, monitoring and education of 1 solar stove or fuel-efficient stove in Ampasilava.

The stove that you fund will help to reduce carbon emissions by 1.5 tonnes for each year that it is in use by providing a more efficient cooking option.  An average CCC volunteer will emit around 2.5 tonnes of carbon dioxide from theiir return air travel to the CCC project.   By funding 1 stove for 2 years you can help to compensate for your carbon footprint. for the travel you take on your CCC project.

For further information please use the contact details below.