Date established: 2001

Partner: Arboles y Agua para El Pueblo

Number of stoves built: 3,150

Types of stoves built: Justa

Program history: El Salvador has the dubious distinction, along with Haiti, of being one of the two most deforested countries in the Western Hemisphere. Poor farmers with no other options are cultivating their crops on steep hillsides, resulting in catastrophic soil erosion affecting more than 50% of all Salvadoran farmland.

In 2001 TWP and our partner in El Salvador, Arboles y Agua para El Pueblo (formerly FUDEMCO), joined with the community members of El Coco in the department of Santa Ana to develop a fuel-efficient stove program. To reduce the pressure on the area forest for fuelwood, we introduced the Justa stove, a fuel-efficient, wood-burning cookstove with a chimney to vent smoke out of the home. The Justa stove reduces consumption of fuelwood by 50-70% compared to traditional cooking methods. Since 2001, the program has expanded into 12 other communities in the department of Santa Ana.

Beyond the various benefits associated with fuel savings, there are also dramatic health benefits because the chimney remove 80% of the toxic gases produced by the wood. According the World Health Organization, over 1.6 million people, mainly women and children, die each year due to indoor air pollution caused by traditional open-fire cooking methods. The World Bank has listed indoor air pollution as one of the four largest environmental health problems facing the developing world today. The Justa stove effectively combats these problems, while also addressing both environmental and economic aspects of marginalized communities in Latin America.