Date: March 2021
To ensure the safety of both the forests as well as community members living around the tiger reserve, we have distributed ‘Green chulahs’ or Green Stoves to the villagers of Ranipur village situated in the buffer zone of Panna as well as in the forest chowkis to ensure better health and convenience for our forest guards. Distribution of these stoves will not only ensure reduced dependency on fuel wood, which in turn can help against deforestation and safeguard the ecosystem but also better health for the women in the household, who, because of the smoke emitted by traditional stoves – termed as Household Air Pollution (HAP) would earlier be at big health risks. The smoke from the traditional ‘chulha’ is a mix of over 30 different chemicals and kills over 4.3 million people annually – higher than malaria, HIV and tuberculosis combined. Thus, usage of the stoves, can be a preventive to avoid the concerned ailments. This also ensures 65% fuel savings and 70% smoke reduction while working on all solid biomass fuels like dry cow dung or crop waste. The replacement not only enables clean cooking for rural households but also minimises noxious Carbon Oxide, Particulate Matter and Green House Gas emissions leading to better health, savings, and everyday convenience. This initiative has been supported by Morningstar, Inc.