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Junglescapes’ Eco-chulha project in collaboration with Philips: 2009-10

A report on the socio-ecological-economic benefits 1. Background Junglescapes Charitable Trust is a non-profit based in Bangalore that works with forest dwelling village communities living in and around reserve forest areas adjoining Bandipur National Park in the State of Karnataka in India. Junglescapes works with these communities on sustainable wildlife conservation activities in an “inclusive model” of conservation that benefits both the ecology and the people. Our aim is to empower these communities to take stewardship of their environmental and ecological heritage through eco-based alternate livelihood options. Junglescapes’ initiatives include

• Afforestation of degraded forest areas (surrogate carbon credit program)

• Eco-chulhas

• Community managed eco-tourism • Training in activities like bird watching, nature treks, etc to village youth

• Training in making furniture from lantana, an invasive forest weed

• Creating eco-awareness among the communities through focused training inputs 2. Socio-economic and Ecological issues in the area 2.1 Unviable Agriculture Traditional occupations like agriculture do not work well in these areas due to frequent crop raids by animals and the low water table. As a result, most land allotted to these forest dwellers lie uncultivated. Most of them work as daily labourers in nearby resorts and large farms that are owned by urban settlers. An outcome of this is a high incidence of distress sale of land. As a result, most forest dwellers in this area live under severe economic hardships, with average monthly earnings of families below Euro 40 (below the poverty line). 2.2 Ecological Damage Most people who buy land in this area are from urban areas. Unlike the traditional forest dwellers, these buyers lack the understanding of the ecology of the area. Moreover, they are driven strongly by a desire to put the land to economic use like construction of resorts, cultivation of cash crops, etc. As a result, these lands are cordoned off with electric fences and deep irrigation bore wells are dug. Critical animal migratory paths are cut off and the flora and hydrology of the area are badly affected.



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2.3 Human-Animal conflict The area lies in a prime elephant migratory corridor. There is significant human-animal conflict as a result. People are constantly concerned about elephant attacks on crops and humans. Also, the area serves as a buffer zone for tigers that spill over from the adjacent Bandipur NP. Attacks by tigers on the villagers’ cattle are common. 2.4 Lantana One of the main problems facing forests in India is rampant growth of lantana, a non-native weed that is invasive and fast growing. Lantana is not eaten by animals and has no utility as such. It is aggressive and pushes out other plant species quite rapidly, thus eroding the native eco-systems. Every year the Forest departments spend huge amounts of money trying to eradicate lantana with little success. Junglescapes has been running programs for enabling villagers to make furniture from lantana, but this consumes very insignificant quantities of the weed per year. 3. Junglescapes’ Eco Chulha project in Lokkere: Initial Steps 2.1 About Lokkere

Lokkere Map Lokkere is a small hamlet of 25 families. It is situated at the edge of one of the major tiger reserves in India called Bandipur, in the State of Karnataka (refer map below). The villagers are keen on conservation activities and have formed a Village Forest Committee (a Village Forest Committee is a body that is formed by the State Forest department under a program called “Joint Forest Management Program” and comprises



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of members from the village. The members take care of a part of the forest and are allowed to harvest non-timber forest produce from such managed areas). Lokkere also has a women’s Self-Help Group, a micro-credit organization of the village women. This is a body encouraged by the Government and can avail of funding from banks for village level economic activities at a small scale. 2.2 Junglescapes activities in Lokkere Junglescapes has been working with the Lokkere villagers for over 2 years on community managed reforestation and water harvesting activities. All our activities are run in consultation with the Forest department. 2.3 Eco-Chulhas at Lokkere Junglescapes had been looking at the possibility of encouraging the use of eco-chulhas by the Lokkere villagers for two reasons, both ecological a. It reduces the amount of firewood that is used for cooking, thus reducing the

depletion of forest cover. b. It also reduces human-animal conflict as the frequency of trips into the forest for

firewood collection comes down. 2.4 First Philips Eco-Chulha at Lokkere When we came to know about the Philips eco-chulhas, Junglescapes got in touch with Mr Griffioen Bas of Philips in June 2009, who in turn put us in touch with Mr Unmesh Kulkarni in India. He in turn connected us to Erin Foundation, Bangalore. Erin Foundation immediately gave us a Sampoorna chulha for trial. The trial chulha was taken to Lokkere by the Junglescapes volunteers on 20th June 2009 along with the Engineer from Erin Foundation, and installed in the house of one of the villagers (Mr Swami). A local villager (Nagaraj) who had prior experience in masonry work assisted the Erin Engineer in the installation.

First chulha to be installed in Lokkere on 20 June 2009



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2.4. Initial Chulhas Within a period of 2 weeks, we had request for 5 more chulhas from the villagers. Nagaraj came to Bangalore for a 2 day training at Erin Foundation on chulha installation. Nagaraj went back with 5 Saral chulhas on 7th August 2009 and installed these. 2.5. Initial User Feedback A feedback was collected from the first chulha user in Lokkere in September 2009. This is given in Annexure 1. The feedback was extremely encouraging and gave us the confidence that the chulha was a good eco-friendly project to pursue. What was an added bonus was the feedback that the chulha worked very well on lantana wood, and that is one of the main reasons we decided to call it an “eco-chulha”. 4. Junglescapes’ Eco-chulha project: 2010 Roll-out 4.1. Pilot Study In January 2009, Philips design – India contacted Junglescapes about doing an impact study for the chulha at Lokkere covering 40 houses. A MOU was entered into between Philips and Junglescapes for the impact study. Juglescapes in turn contacted the Environment Studies department of Mysore University in India, who expressed their willingness to carry out the analysis for the impact study. A meeting between Philips, Mysore University and Junglescapes took place in January 2010. Mysore University got approval from their Board in April 2010 to proceed with the impact study. It was agreed that the impact study would cover both pre and post installation of the chulha, and cover 40 houses in and around Lokkere that used only chulhas for their cooking needs (not users of other cooking medium like liquefied petroleum gas). 4.2 Junglescapes’ Chulha Project team Two Governing Committee members from Junglescapes – Mr Suranjan Mithra (Suri) and Ms Nayantara Karnik (Nayantara) - who are both architects by profession - agreed to lead the chulha project. They along with support from Ramesh and Ragini formed the chulha team at Junglescapes. 4.3 Local Fabrication One of the challenges facing the pilot study was the availability of chulhas for installation. Transportation of chulhas from Bangalore was an expensive proposition. In line with its objective of promoting eco-friendly employment to forest dwellers, Junglescapes enquired with Philips about the feasibility of local fabrication. Philips



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readily agreed to provide training to two local youth (Ravi and Nagendra) in fabricating the chulhas. The training took place in June 2010, and was conducted by Mr Praveen Mareguddi of Philips design along with Suri and Nayantara from Junglescapes. The training was for 3 days and involved all aspects of fabrication, curing and finishing. Two sets of moulds were also provided by Philips and are being used by the two eco-preneurs. Some images of the local fabrication are given below.

Fabricated chulha parts in the curing Chulha fabricated by tank at Lokkere Nagendra at Lokkere 4.3 Local Fabricators’ profile and experience It is important to note here that the two youth selected for training had no prior experience in any form of manufacturing activity. They were exclusively farmers. Nagendra had studied up to 10th standard (high school) while Ravi had studied only up to 6th standard. Junglescapes was initially circumspect as to how these two could learn and manufacture what looked like a fairly sophisticated product, with no prior experience. However, as with all villagers, these youth had worked on building / repairing their homes, and hence had a basic understanding of masonry work. They were able to learn the technical aspects quite well and in the next 4 months each of them had successfully fabricated and installed over 10 chulhas each. We at Junglescapes believe that this clear proof of the effectiveness of the Philips chulha design, since a couple of first-time manufacturers were able to learn and make the chulhas in a very short period. This is also evidence of the inherent potential in the rural people (that we often under-estimate) which when tapped can be made to blossom.



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All raw materials for the chulha are procured locally. A local vendor has been identified for manufacture of the grates. The availability of stone grit has been a problem as suppliers are not willing to sell small lots. This is an area requiring focus as we move forward.

Ravi, eco-preneur at Chik Yel Chetti, explaining the chulhas to Forest department officials during World Wildlife Week 2010 4.4 Profile of chulha users The eco-chulhas have been installed in 27 homes in four villages in and around Lokkere – these are Lokkere, Chik Yel Chetti, Belawadi and Guddukere. Most of these are small hamlets with around 20-25 homes each. Prior to this, all these houses were using the traditional chulha made of bricks. The profile of the families is as below:

• They belong to a mix of tribal and non-tribal communities

• Many of the families are below the poverty line and work in nearby resorts and farms as daily wage earners. Both men and women work in the nearby farms.

• As a result, most of them cannot afford expensive alternatives like coking gas.

• Their homes are typically small, with the tribal homes being less than 100 square feet each, including the cooking area.

• Firewood is collected from the nearby forests. This activity is done both by men and women, depending on who has the time.

• Most of the homes have electricity connections although the supply is erratic.

• The villages do not have running water. They draw water either from a hand pump or from the village storage tank.



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• Many of them are illiterate and have few possessions. • Medical help is around 20 kms away.

Kamakshiamma and husband – chulha users in Chik Yel Chetti village belonging to Solega tribe 5. Social Benefits of the Eco-chulha The main social benefits of the chulha are as below • Cooking time has come down by half. So against 2 hours earlier, they cook for 1

hour. Normally the main meal cooked is dinner, after they return from the fields. So the one hour saving means the women have less work after a hard day’s work.

• Reduced cooking time means greater emancipation of the women in more ways than one. They get more time to take care of the children. They are also able to get more rest after their hard work schedule, and this should improve their health.

• As against two visits to the forest a week to collect firewood, they make one trip a fortnight. This also saves time, apart from reducing the risks. This benefit is appreciated by the men as they are the ones who generally go to collect firewood.

• The eco-chulha has helped Junglescapes in building rapport with the community and gets them involved in other environmental activities.

• Most of the people live in single room houses roughly 10x8 feet. The single room has all the belongings + the cooking area. Less firewood automatically means more space available in a small home.

6. Ecological Benefits of the Eco-chulha The main ecological benefits of the chulha are as below • The traditional / old chulhas consume around 15 kgs of firewood a day for a house of

4-5 people. As against this, the eco-chulha consumes 5 kgs of firewood a day. This



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means a saving of around 3.5 tonnes of firewood a year, or two fully grown trees. So if we have 1000 chulhas, it is the equivalent of planting 2000 trees a year. This means a carbon sequestration of around 4000 tonnes.

• As discussed earlier in the report, the chulha works well on lantana and helps reduce the spread of this harmful weed.

• Reduced trips into the forest also lower human-animal conflict.

• Better energy conversion and absence of smoke also helps lower carbon emissions. 7. Economic Benefits of the Eco-chulha The economic benefits of the chulha are as below

• Improved health of the women means better earning ability and lower medical expenses.

• The Government has been trying to convert the villagers to cooking gas. The connection + stove costs Euro 50. Apart from there is the recurring cost of cylinders of Euro 6 each per month, which they cannot afford. Also, the supply of cylinders is erratic. By switching them to gas, we make them dependent on an external energy source that is expensive.

• The eco-preneurs involved in the activity are able to earn an average of Rs 3000 per month (around Euro 50) as supplementary income through this activity.

8. Health Benefits of the Eco-chulha The health benefits of the chulha are as below

• Absence of smoke is a major benefit and will improve longevity of the women. Also, as women carry their babies in their arms while cooking, this protects the young babies’ as well from harmful smoke.

• Slow cooking on medium heat on the chulha helps retain nutrients in the food. In a diet that is low on nutrition, this is an important factor to be borne in mind. Traditional Indian cooking is based on medium heat. Changing to gas means a change in the food habits, because the gas could mean high heat and fast cooking and potential loss of nutrition in the food. This needs further impact study, but could actually be a major impact area.

• Cooking on a chulha involves squatting on the floor. Squatting is proven to be the most natural posture for a human being, and helps strengthen the knees, legs and spinal cord. Squatting helps avoid ailments like knee pain, lower back pain, etc. By shifting them to cooking gas, women would start cooking standing up, and the benefits of squatting lost.



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The eco chulha in a spartan Chik Yel Chetti home – note

the use of lantana sticks & absence of smoke 9. Potential for the Eco-chulha We feel there is significant potential for the chulha. There are over 100 hamlets in the area that could benefit from the chulha, and this translates to around 2500 homes. If each of the two eco-preneurs makes 10 chulhas a month, this means a stream of work for them for over 5 years. There is also the potential to spread this chulha beyond the Bandipur area, to other forest areas in the country. This would need creating awareness among NGOs working in those areas who can partner in this effort. We feel that a short film of about 10 minutes about the chulha can help create awareness both among NGOs and potential users. There is also a good potential for the Forest departments across the country to use these chulhas for their anti-poaching camps that are located deep inside the forests with no electricity or other amenities. Junglescapes would be glad to help other NGOs who would like to implement the eco-chulha in their areas, by sharing our experience and learnings. Also, our eco-preneurs can also provide training inputs to local artisans. 10. Costing and Subsidy The cost of fabricating the chulha during the impact study phase has been Rs 1250 (Euro 20), including the cost of the grates and labour charges / profit for the eco-preneurs. The cost of the stone grit and stone powder is high due to availability issues. It



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should be possible to optimize the cost by around Rs 200 through identifying cheaper sources for stone grit and powder, as well as bringing some economies of scale. At present, the buyers pay Rs 250 for a Saral chulha and Rs 300 for a Sampoorna. The rest is subsidized by Junglescapes as part of the impact study. 11. Funding aspects The Junglescapes eco-chulha project has involved an amount of approximately Rs 60000 (Euro 1000) towards subsidies to the buyers and training costs. This does not include the cost of the moulds, cost of carrying out the impact study and travel costs of the people involved from Junglescapes and Philips. Junglescapes is working with social lending agencies to arrange funding for the two eco-preneurs for their working capital as well as for village communities to help them buy the chulha. The funding model envisages a subsidy from sponsors of 50% of the cost of the chulha (around Euro 9 per chulha) and the remaining 50% as a social loan. 12. Acknowledgements Junglescapes would like to acknowledge the contribution of the following people in the chulha project:

• The Design team from Philips consisting of Bas Griffioen, Abhimanyu Kulkarni, Neha Ahuja and Praveen Mareguddi for their tremendous support and guidance without which it would have been impossible to implement this project

• Suri, Nayantara and Sathisha, Junglescapes’ volunteers for so graciously giving their time and knowledge to the project

• Ravi and Nagendra, the two eco-preneurs for their incredible enthusiasm and energy in making the project a success despite intense local challenges of learning a new technology, procurement of materials and canvassing with the local people to convince them to install the chulhas.

• Sponsors like Deepa Mohan and Geetanjali who readily came forward to sponsor chulhas for the villagers

• Last but not the least, a big word of thanks to Ragini of Junglescapes for her tireless efforts in co-ordinating every minute detail of the project

And personally, for me, this has been an immensely fulfilling journey, where we have been able to touch the lives of the people and wildlife of the area in a definitive way through a simple but beautiful idea. Report prepared by Ramesh Venkataraman, Managing Trustee, Junglescapes Charitable Trust, Bangalore, India 20th November 2010 www.junglescapes.org



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Annexure 1: Interview with Mr Swami and his wife Mrs Nagamma, the users of the

first eco-chulha installed at Lokkere (Sampoorna) on 20th June 2009 1. What are the main benefits of the eco-chulha that you have been using? The main benefit is that it requires less firewood than earlier. We use almost a fourth of the firewood that we used earlier. The other benefit is that the cooking takes much less time. Where we were spending 2 and a half hours before, we spend around an hour now. This is a great benefit as all the women go to work as daily farm workers and they can leave early and also when they come back they can prepare dinner faster. We are able to cook on both the stoves. We use the main stove for cooking vegetables, sambar (Dhal), etc. and the second one for making rice and also hot water for drinking and for bathing the children. 2. Has it reduced the number of trips that you have to make into the jungles to collect firewood? What hazards do you face when you go to collect firewood? Yes. I (the husband) used to go thrice a week to collect firewood but now I have to go only once a week. When we go into the jungles we have to be careful as there are elephants and leopards around, there is always a risk. 3. Are you running the chulha on lantana? Yes. We are able to run this chulha almost entirely on lantana as the heat generation (conversion) on this stove is good. Lantana burns fast and generates heat fast and therefore the cooking is faster (the old chulhas were not compatible with lantana as the slow heat conversion was incompatible with the fast burning lantana). We use smaller size lantana for starting the chulha but after 15-20 minutes we use bigger lantana branches. 4. Why do you use other wood? We use other wood between the morning and evening cooking, to keep the stove warm. The cooking is mainly with lantana 5. What are the other benefits of the chulha? There is no smoke in this chulha. With the earlier chulha the entire house used to be filled with smoke. We also had to white wash (paint) the house frequently earlier which we can avoid now. Also, in the earlier chulha we needed to use a large amount of kerosene but now we use very little. 6. Are you happy with the chulha? Are there any complaints? We are very happy with the chulha. We have a suggestion on the Sampoorna. The cooking openings are too large and hence needs a large vessel to cover it, or else the heat escapes. The cooking hole should be made smaller to avoid this. The Saral is better as the holes are smaller. 7. Have you been told how to maintain the chulha? Yes, Nagaraj has told us to clean the ash regularly.

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