Environmental and socio-economic Impact of improved Stoves - The Case of the Tsotso Stove in Northern Namibia

CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION 4
1.2 Limitations
The limitations of this study can already be drawn from its title. From a spatial point of view, this thesis
is limited to northern Namibia, although some conclusions might also apply for other semi-arid areas in
southern Africa. Northern Namibia, and in particular the Omusati and Oshana region were chosen since
this is the area where the Tsotso Stove, the main improved stove in Namibia, was introduced by the thesis
partner, the Desert Research Foundation of Namibia. It is further restricted in a sense that it only evaluates
the socio-economic and environmental impact of the Tsotso stove that is reflected in the 5 questions already
shown in section 1.1. This was not planned from the beginning, but was the outcome of the pre-survey that
was used to create the conceptual model. If respondents had reported on cultural or political impacts of
the stove, they would have been included. Please note that the focus lies on an evaluation of the impact of
the stove, not on an evaluation of the stove itself.
A last limitation is that the impacts are assessed with the help of a conceptual model, which disregards
time as a factor. The reasons for and outcomes of this are discussed in section 3.3.3.
1.3 The Structure of this Thesis
The thesis is structured as follows: After this introduction, a background chapter will follow that serves to
make the reader familiar with Namibia, the study area, the Tsotso stove, and the Onkani Stove programme.
In the methodology chapter I will first present the approach of this thesis, system dynamics. After
a section that describes the position of the thesis in the wider context of stove programmes, I will then
introduce causal loop diagrams. It follows a description of how this tool was used to create a conceptual
model, whose nature and limitations are then discussed. Afterwards my surveys will be described and
criticised.
The results chapter is divided into seven parts. After presenting the results of the pre-survey, I will go
over to explain how the frequency of stove use was determined. The next five sections will deal with the
parameters that were chosen to represent the impact of the stove. First the effect on deforestation will be
discussed (this effect will be further discussed in two sections of the discussion). After that the results for
the four socio-economic parameters will be presented.
The discussion chapter starts with two sections concerning the environmental impact of the stove. While
the first serves to explore how significant the wood savings that can be achieved are, the second tries to
explain the role of the Tsotso Stove from a system dynamics perspective. The next section will sum up
and discuss the results concerning the socio-economic impact of the stove. Finally, an outlook shall serve
to discuss the role of the stove in the future, its dissemination potential and what the results from wider
dissemination might be.
The conclusion chapter sums up the main findings and gives recommendations regarding future research
as well as the future of the stove program.
Chapter 2
Background
2.1 A brief History of Stove Programmes
The first improved stove programmes that focused on energy-efficiency started in the 1970s when the oil
crisis increased prices of modern fuels and forced households in developing countries to continue relying
on biomass. The higher oil prices, in combination with increasing deforestation and several publications
predicting a “fuelwood crisis”, led governments, NGOs and donors to concentrate on improved stoves. The
movement was strengthened by early studies that suggested that simple design changes can increase the
efficiency of stoves three to six fold. Trusting that the efficiency gain alone would be enough to guarantee a
quick adoption and wide dissemination of stoves, a wave of stove programmes started around 1980. (Barnes
et al., [5]1994, p.4)
These programmes, focussing only on dissemination, did neither take into account local customs and
the economic background of the target areas, nor did they consider prices or availability of biomass fuel.
Furthermore, the 75% stove savings that could be achieved in laboratory tests, could not be reproduced in
the field. This resulted in a failure of many early stove programmes. (Worldbank, [53]1996)
These early failures, in turn, helped stove programme designers to find out what determines the success
of a stove programme. These lessons learned can be divided with the help of three questions:
ˆ In which situation are stove programmes successful?
ˆ Which shape should stove programmes assume?
ˆ Which benefits does the improved stove need to produce?
Regarding the first question, it is generally accepted that stove programmes are more successful in areas
where fuelwood is already scarce, and people therefore either spend a lot of money buying wood or spend
a lot of time collecting it (Barnes et al., [4]1993, p.125). Concerning the second question, experience has
shown that programmes using a top-down approach and relying heavily on donor funding to subsidise the
stoves performed much worse than programmes that were participatory from the beginning and in which
funding was used to establish a self-sustaining stove industry (Barnes et al., [5]1994, p.19; Department for
International Development, [12]2000, p.6). The last question concerns the stove itself and the benefits it
can provide for its user. Stove programmes have shown that superior efficiency is not sufficient to guarantee
a widespread dissemination of stoves. Rather, the stove has to be competitive with the traditional stove in
a multitude of factors, such as ease of use, safety, time-saving and attractiveness so that the user clearly
perceives the benefits it creates (Hulscher, Luo, Koopmans, [20]1999, p.3).
As a reaction to these lessons learned, a new phase of stove programmes started, which is coined
the “Phoenix phase” by Smith (as cited in Joseph, Prasad, van der Zaan, [21]1990, p.4). This phase
is characterised by a focus on development-concerns such as indoor air quality or the potential income
generating effects of stove programmes (Joseph et al., [21]1990, p.4; Nystro¨m, [35]1994, p.26). This more
holistic understanding of the role of improved stoves is also underlying this thesis.
5
CHAPTER 2. BACKGROUND 6
2.2 Namibia
2.2.1 Natural conditions
Namibia’s climate is characterised by arid to semi-arid conditions, with rainfall varying between 90 and
600 mm per year, and an extremely high rate of evapo-transpiration (Langanke, [25]2001, p.7; Matthew,
[28]2001, p.1). The rainfalls are highly variable, both spatially and temporally; they rise along a gradient
from south west to north east, increasing from 100 mm in the Namib desert to 500-700 mm in the north
east. The rainfalls occur highly seasonal, with 90% of the rain falling between October and April in most
of Namibia (MAWR, [32]1999, p.22).
The arid climate, together with the acid, crys-
     
     
 
 


 
 

                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
Namibia
0 1000 2000 Kilometers
N
Figure 2.1: Africa and Namibia (source: Digital Chart
of the World).
talline rocks that make up the largest share of the
bed-rock in Namibia result in sandy, infertile soils
with a low content of organic matter (Langanke,
[25]2001,p.10). The main groups of soils that can
be found throughout Namibia are unconsolidated
sands (arenosols), and weakly developed soils like
lithosols, xerosols, regolsols and vermosols (FAO,
[13]1973). Only 3% of Namibia’s soils have a clay
contents greater than 5% and provide some wa-
ter holding capacity. In general, soils are deficient
in macro- and micronutrients (Langanke, [25]2001,
p.10).
The growth and distribution of the vegetation
is determined by soil and climatic conditions. The
vegetation distribution is correlated to the precip-
itation gradient, the variability of rainfall, the soil
conditions and the landforms. It is further influ-
enced by anthropogenic activity, which started cen-
turies ago (Langanke, [25]2001,p.14). Giess ([16]
1971) distinguishes between three main vegetation
zones, desert (16%), Savannah (64%) and dry woodlands (20%). He further differentiates 14 Vegetation
types (see figure 2.2). Due to the climatic conditions and the low quality soils, the growth of woody biomass
is fairly low (Matthew, [28]2001, p.1).
2.2.2 Land use
According to Langanke ([25]2001, p.15), the “agricultural sector of Namibia is divided into a commercial
farming sub-sector, where farmers operate on freehold title deed land, and a communal farming sub-sector
where farmers operate on land under a communal tenure system”. The latter is mainly situated in the
northern and central parts of Namibia (Langanke, [25]2001, p.15). Though supporting 95% of the nations
farming population (Kruger, [24]1997, p.45), the communal areas fill only 48% of the total agricultural land.
The result is a very uneven land distribution, with the communal farm sizes being around 2 hectares, while
the commercial farms have an average landholding of 8620 hectares (NRC et al.,[34]2000). According to the
Namibia Red Cross et al. ([34]2000, p.34), six different land use schemes can be distinguished:
ˆ Irrigated cropping along the rivers
ˆ Dryland cropping and livestock production on communal areas in the north
ˆ Large stock production on commercial farms in central and eastern areas
ˆ Small stock production in the south and along the Namib desert
ˆ Wildlife for game ranches, tourism and meat production in parks, on private farms and in communal
areas in the north east and north west
CHAPTER 2. BACKGROUND 7#Y
#Y
                                                        
                                                        
                                                        
                                                        
Oshakati
                                                
                                                
                                                
                                                Windhoek VegetationCentral Namib
Desert & Succulent Steppe
Dwarf Shrub Savanna
Forset Savanna & Woodlands
Highland Savanna
Kamel Thorn SavannaMixed Tree & Shrub SavannaMopanie
Mountain Savanna & Karstveld
North Namib
Saline Desert with Dwarf Savanna
Semi Desert & Savanna Transition
Southern Namib
Thorn Bush Savanna200 0 200 Kilometers
N
Figure 2.2: Vegetation of Namibia (source: Giess, [16], 1971).
ˆ Diamond mining in the south-western area
Although agriculture contributes only 9% to the Gross Domestic Product, it is the income provider for most
Namibians, especially in the north, where the communal agriculture acts a safety net for the poor rural
population (Langanke, [25]2001, p.16).
2.2.3 Demography
Namibia is one of the most scarcely populated coun-
                                                    
                                                    
                                                    
                                                    
                                                    
                                                    
                                                    
                                                    
                                                    
                                                    
                                                    
                                                    
                                                    
                                                    
                                                    
                                                    
                                                    
                                                    
                                                    

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

            
            
            
            
            
            
            
            
            
            
            
            
            
            
            
            
            
            
            
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
       Oshiwambo54%
Nama/Damara12%
Kavango9%
Afrikaans9%
Herero8%
Caprivi4%
Bushman2% English1%
German1%
Figure 2.3: Ethnical composition of Namibia’s pop-
ulation according to the Central Statistics Office
([9]1994).
tries, with an average population density of 2.2 people
per km2. According to the 2001 census, almost 780,000
of the 1.8 million Namibians live in one of the four O-
regions: Omusati, Oshana, Ohanguena and Oshikoto.
In this area, formerly called Owamboland, the pop-
ulation density is about seven times higher than the
average. (Central Bureau of Statistics, [8]2001) Al-
most 60% of the 295,000 households in Namibia are
still situated in rural areas (United Nations Human
Settlements Programme, [47]2000). With at least 10
different ethnic groups, Namibia consists of a multi-
tude of African and European cultures. Figure 2.3
shows the different ethnicities and their share of the
population. (CSO, [9]1994)
Population growth in Namibia has been on average
2.6% from 1991 to 2001 (CBS, [8]2001, p.13), which
corresponds to a doubling of the population every 27
years.