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Promoting sustainable local development of rural communities and mitigating climate change: the case of Mexico’s Patsari improved cookstove project

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Abstract

Improved cookstoves have been identified in Mexico as a key opportunity to advance sustainable local development priorities in disadvantaged regions while mitigating climate change. This paper reviews the Patsari Cookstove Project initiated in 2003 by an NGO, Interdisciplinary Group on Appropriate Rural Technology (GIRA). The project applied an interdisciplinary and participative user-centered approach to disseminate improved cookstoves in rural Mexico, with a special focus on indigenous and poor rural communities. To date, GIRA and the Patsari Network have disseminated thousands of stoves using a “training to trainers” model. Benefits from the project include tangible improvements in users’ health, as well as savings in time and money expended on fuelwood procurement and use. The project has also documented substantive environmental benefits from significant mitigation of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with traditional open fires. To sustain scaling up efforts over the long-term, two networks have been created: The Patsari Network, which includes several organizations promoting Patsari stoves for household users, and the Tsiri Network, which supports local food security and the empowerment of indigenous women through the promotion of institutional cookstoves. Through appropriately designed and implemented local interventions, the project demonstrates that the goals of advancing sustainable local development in rural areas and climate change mitigation may not be contradictory, and may in fact reinforce one another.

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Notes

  1. According to the classification used by CDI, a municipality is considered indigenous when its indigenous population represents more that 40 % of its total population. It is estimated that 60 % of the indigenous population (approximately 6million people) live in indigenous municipalities and the rest live in predominantly “mestizo” municipalities (CDI 2006).

  2. According to data gathered by FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization), 45 % of Mexico’s caloric consumption comes from corn-based food. Mexico is the top tortilla consumer worldwide, with an annual consumption volume close to 22 million tons of tortillas, of which 6.9 million tons are produced using traditional methods. Tortillas provide energy due to their high carbohydrate content, and are also rich in calcium, potassium, and phosphorus. Moreover, they provide fiber, protein, and some vitamins, mainly A, thiamine, riboflavin, and niacin. The economic importance of corn and tortillas is undeniable.

  3. These are not the same as tortillerias; commercial establishments that produce tortillas using industrial machines.

  4. The factors that directly impact the mitigation potential of improved cookstoves are: annual household fuelwood consumption; GHG emission factors; the degree of renewability of fuelwood use; and continuous daily use of the stove that ultimately determines whether its impacts are sustained in the long run.

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Acknowledgments

Our gratitude to the families from the Meseta Purépecha who opened their homes to us. Funding was provided by SEDESOL-CONACYT under the project 2009-119143, FOMIX-CONACYT under the project FMSLP-2013-C03-221387 and by UNAM-PAPIIT under the project IT101512.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Interdisciplinary Group on Appropriate Rural Technology (GIRA), Patzcuaro, 61613, Michoacan, Mexico

    Victor M. Berrueta

  2. Institute for Ecosystem and Sustainability Research, National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), Morelia, 58190, Michoacan, Mexico

    Montserrat Serrano-Medrano & Omar R. Masera

  3. Escuela Nacional de Estudios Superiores Unidad Morelia, National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), Morelia, 58190, Michoacan, Mexico

    Carlos García-Bustamante

  4. Environmental Geography Research Center, National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), Morelia, 58190, Michoacan, Mexico

    Marta Astier

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  1. Victor M. Berrueta
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Correspondence to Victor M. Berrueta.

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“Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation with Local Communities and Indigenous Peoples” edited by Kirsty Galloway McLean, Ameyali Ramos Castillo, Edwin Castellanos, and Aqqaluk Lynge.

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Berrueta, V.M., Serrano-Medrano, M., García-Bustamante, C. et al. Promoting sustainable local development of rural communities and mitigating climate change: the case of Mexico’s Patsari improved cookstove project. Climatic Change 140, 63–77 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-015-1523-y

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