One of the reasons the forests the lemurs live in are shrinking is because trees get cut down for firewood. With no access to electricity or gas, wood and charcoal is used in both urban and rural areas for cooking and water heating. In addition to the huge amount of wood needed, another hazards of burning on an open fire is smoke inhalation, which causes health risks. An alternative to meet the growing need for fuel is implementing the use of rocket stoves, a technology that has been known for over a hundred years. These stoves are many times more efficient than open fires, as less than halve the amount of wood is used. They also have the added benefit of creating virtually no smoke. The estimated costs of one stove is about 10 euro. Our rocket stove program will teach people a method of building stoves and how to use them. For example, the wood has to be very dry, has to be of a correct size, and needs to be storage in a suitable, dry area. We will support the production of stoves for general cooking purposes.
