05 November 2009 - - The Gambia Experience
The Gambia Experience is pleased to report that the first year of the TICOS Carbon Offset Mayan Turbo Stoves Project has been a success.
In 2008, TICOS (Tourism Industry Carbon Offset Service) signed a 3 year agreement with Resource Efficient Agricultural Production (REAP Canada) to build fuel efficient Mayan Turbo Stoves and to provide these to communities in Senegal and The Gambia as part of a wider programme to introduce and promote sustainable agricultural practices in rural villages.
In the Gambia and Senegal cooking is traditionally with wood or charcoal in a closed kitchen. Traditional stoves are both inefficient and rely on either the purchase or collection of firewood. The trade off here is either a cost of up to one fifth of a weekly income to purchase firewood or charcoal, against collection, which can involve a daily trek of up to 12 kilometres to find suitable wood to burn. Both of these solutions are heavy in demand upon the women of the villages.
The new Mayan Turbo stoves have been adapted to burn the plentiful agricultural by-products of rice husk and groundnut shells. As these are freely available, many villages are now becoming “wood free” in their cooking. In addition to the savings in cost and time, health improvements are also being reported and monitored as the Mayan stoves can be used in the open air and are virtually smoke free.
The provision of new cooking stoves, which save fuel, and at the same time achieve climate change benefits, is seen by TICOS as an excellent way to offset the emissions of carbon for those flying to the Gambia.
Dick Sisman, founder of TICOS, made an inspection visit to see the new stoves operation in October 2009 and was delighted to see that not only was the new stoves project hugely popular with rural communities, but that it was achieving even greater savings in both CO2 emissions and cooking costs than originally anticipated.
The Gambia Experience holds 5* AITO Responsible Tourism status and through its Carbon Offset programme is a major contributor to the funding of TICOS. For more information on The Gambia Experience’s carbon offset scheme, please visit www.gambia.co.uk/carbonoffset
For more information on TICOS please visit www.ticos.co.uk
View this article online »
View this article online » 