Solar Cookers present potential solutions for Indoor

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 05 GENEVA 000657

SIPDIS
SENSITIVE

STATE FOR IO/EDA, OED FOR DWILUSZ, PRM/AFR FOR WHENNING,
INR/EC FOR PHOPKE, EAP FOR BBEHN, PCIA FOR BDOROSKI, JMITCHELL

TAGS: SENV ECON UNEP UNHCR
SUBJECT: Solar Cookers present potential solutions for Indoor
Air Pollution, Refugee Camps

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1.(U) Summary : In a June 29 2009 side event on the margins of
the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Annual
Consultations with NGOs, the nonprofit organization Solar
Cookers International (SCI) hosted an informal discussion
entitled Integrated Solutions to Cooking Needs and Safe Water,
to explore the feasibility of renewable domestic energy in
refugee situations. The dozen participants concluded that
solar cookers can mitigate indoor air pollution and improve
refugees safety by eliminating their need to forage for
firewood. They also agreed that the use of a Water
Pasteurization Indicator (WPI) would aid refugees in
sterilizing water at a reduced fuel and labor cost. However,
as the Regional Refugee Coordinator for the Horn of Africa
noted in an email comment, solar cookers face significant
deployment challenges, including outright rejection of the
technology. The success of these technologies will therefore
rely upon comprehensive training programs and follow up to
ensure proper and continued use. END SUMMARY

BACKGROUND
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2. (U) In humanitarian situations, fuel scarcity and poverty
create conditions where refugees must spend excessive amounts
of time in search of cooking fuel, primarily firewood.
Because women and girls bear the greatest burden of firewood
collection, they are placed in inordinate risk of physical and
sexual assault or arrest during their outings. Traditional
cooking methods also pose a public health risk because indoor
cooking smoke has high concentrations of particulate matter
and carcinogens. A WHO report from 2007 publishes that indoor
smoke from solid fuel cook stoves poses the fourth highest
burden of disease in poor developing countries. Typical 24-
hour levels of particulate matter in biomass-using homes in

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Africa, Asia, or Latin America are 6 to 60 times higher than
the EPA standard for outdoor air.


3. (U) Solar Cookers are most effective in regions where there
is already a shortage of traditional biomass energy. The
UNHCR, for example, distributes firewood to refugees, but
averages only 30 percent of a given camps' requirement; refugees
must forage for the remainder. Additionally, because of
widespread poverty, populations will often sell the donated
firewood for income generation. Because solar cookers require
no fuel, they can alleviate the pressure placed on refugee
populations to supplement the relief aid through foraging.


4. (U) SCI promotes the dissemination of solar cookers in
humanitarian situations. Their major operations are in Iridimi
(Chad),Aisha (Ethiopia),and Kakuma and Dadaab (Kenya). Solar
cookers reflective structures are designed to concentrate
solar rays in order to heat food or water. SCI Executive
Director Patrick Widner noted that SCI acknowledges the issue
of sunlight availability: solar cookers do not work in the
shade. However, he said that solar cookers are one part of an
integrated package to reduce the health and resource burden of
food preparation.


5. (U) Refugee camps often face challenges providing sufficient
quantities of clean, potable water to their inhabitants; there
is a persistent need for water sterilization techniques that
are affordable and efficient. SCI demonstrated a new
technology for ensuring water sterility in refugee situations.
The Water Pasteurization Indicator (WPI) is a portable and
durable thermometer containing a waxen rod that melts at the
exact temperature of pasteurization. Pasteurization is gaining
ground as an alternative for boiling water because it
sufficiently sterilizes while requiring a lower heating

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temperature and therefore less fuel and preparation time. The
WPI is reusable and can aid refugees in cleaning their water
in a rapid manner, though Mr. Widner noted that training
courses might be necessary to ensure a successful rollout.

Recommendations from Discussion Participants
--------------


6. (U) The participants noted that one challenge facing the
rollout is cultural rejection of solar cooking, as certain
meals are more difficult to prepare using the current solar
cooker model. Representatives from SCI noted that some
cultural resistance was found on account of unfamiliarity
causing fear that the new cooker would burn or otherwise
injure the user. Participants agreed that refugees and other
users could be surveyed for potential design changes that
might better adjust the Solar Cooker model to their specific
food preparation needs.


7. (U) Mr. Valentine Ndibalema of the Environmental and
Technology Support Section of the UNHCR noted that a primary
aspect for consideration is the creation of extension services
(e.g. training for users, and monitoring of stove use) to aid
the transition from technology deployment to sustainable and
long term use. In addition, the discussion revealed concerns
that refugees might revert to traditional cooking methods in
the absence of such extension services, stressing that
creating a legacy of solar cooking and sustainable fuel
cooking, generally is the most important part of SCIs
development strategy.


8. (SBU) Mission contacted the Regional Refugee Coordinator
(RRC) for the Horn of Africa, based in Addis Ababa, regarding
the use of solar cookers in refugee situations. The RRC

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replied that, in her experience, refugees who are given solar
cookers often don't use them. She cited the Somali population in
Dadaab, who traditionally cook at night, a cultural practice
that makes using a solar cooker impossible. The RRC also
noted, however, that recent circumstances in Dadaab might make
for an effective solar cooker intervention. There has been no
firewood supply contract in the camp since January due to
price negotiations. Additionally, the host community has begun
voicing complaints about environmental degradation due to
refugee firewood harvesting, and though Dadaab is designed to
hold 90,000 people, it currently contains over 287,000 people.
The RRC also noted that (quote) the biggest pitfall seems to
be a lack of follow up to make sure refugees are using them
(solar cookers) properly or using them at all, and to reinforce
the message of why solar cookers are better to use. (end quote)

COMMENT
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9. (SBU) The success of solar cookers depends on finding the right
balance of technological intervention and preserving cultural
integrity. Other companies are pursuing sustainable cooking
solutions in refugees camps other than solar cookers. One
such example is the NGO GAIA in Ethiopia, which promotes an
ethanol stove. Another example is the German NGO GTZ, which
conducts workshops in refugee camps in Dadaab on effective
and fuel-efficient stove design; GTZ's workshops can provide
sustainable cooking solutions where solar cookers are rejected
by target populations.


10. (SBU) The Water Pasteurization Indicator (WPI),
has the potential to provide quality of life improvements
in camps through a low fuel-cost water sterilization
alternative to boiling. SCI and other NGOs operating in camps

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should consider rolling out the WPI and similar technologies
independent of solar cooker programs. END Comment.

GRIFFITHS