Nicaragua: Of Hurricanes, Volcanoes, Crocodiles, and Energy Poverty

Think life in the tropics is a walk in the park?

In October 1998 I walked out of a Costa Rican jungle after narrowly escaping a disastrous film shoot with crocodiles.

The near fiasco had nothing to do with filming the animals up close in their natural habitat. Instead, what almost sunk the project was the relentless pounding of a tropical rain that soaked everything and everyone.

Back in our hotel in San Jose we discovered the cause of the rain was a major hurricane that had slowly swept across the Central American isthmus, causing massive death and destruction in Guatemala, Honduras, and in my home country, Nicaragua. Nearly 11,000 people were killed by Hurrican Mitch. The flooding caused extreme damage, estimated at over $5 billion (1998 USD, $6.5 billion 2008 USD).

The tragedy that shook me the most was the mudslides that buried several villages hugging the flanks of the Casita volcano in northwest Nicaragua. As a child, my family and I had climbed many volcanoes in the region, so I knew the people and the geography very well.

The Mitch of all Hurricanes

Over 2,000 people were killed in the hamlets of El Porvenir and Rolando Rodriguez from the volcanic mudslide at Casita. A fast moving wall of very fluid mud and rocks buried at least four villages completely in several feet of mud and debris. In all, Hurricane Mitch caused at least 3,800 fatalities in Nicaragua and more than 11,000 in all of Central America.

I visited the area six months after the catastrophe. I was there at the height of the dry season and what I saw moved me deeply. The path of the mudslide, gigantic overturned boulders, the massive uprooted ceiba trees, the scarred mountain side, the stench of death that emanated through the cracks of the sun-baked earth, and the plight of several hundreds refugees still living in dusty, make-shift camps under flapping sheets of colored plastic — these are images that will stay with me for the rest of my life.

J’accuse!.. La pauvreté

The public search for a culprit quickly settled on poverty, widespread deforestation, and harmful agricultural methods practiced across the region over the last half century. (Geological studies carried out later concluded human activity played no significant role in triggering the volcanic mudslide. Although some believe that the absence of trees allowed the lahar to extend far and wide in the plain below.)

Like Katrina, and, more recently, Haiti, the Casita catastrophe spurred international soul-searching on the issues of poverty, the environment, and agricultural practices.

ProLeña

One group that began an enlightened campaign to provide a long-term, sustainable source of biomass for the impoverished communities was ProLeña, a local NGO whose mission is to help alleviate the country’s chronic dependence on sustainable biomass as a primary fuel. ProLeña also produces efficient stoves, called, Ecofogones, which it sells mostly to small vendors of prepared foods, especially the bakers of tortilla. Women are, predictably, the main users of Ecofogones.

ProLeña operations in several Latin American countries have tailored Brazil’s original Ecofogao stove for local use.

Nicaragua’s Biomass Energy in Figures

A 2006 national survey on the use of woodfuels reveals the following:

• About 80% of the population depends on biomass as their primary energy source, and biomass makes up close to 50% of the country’s total energy consumption (2005 figures). By contrast, biomass makes up only 8% of Costa Rica’s total national energy consumption (1999 figures).

• 65% of homes use a U-shaped earthen stove and 25% use three stones and pot, open flame-type stoves.

• Interestingly enough, the capital city, Managua, boasts the highest number (50%) of users of three-stones-and-a-pot-type stoves.

• Nationally, only about 5% uses some type of improved, energy-efficient stove.

  
  

  
  

  

  
  

  
  

• Charcoal comprises only 0.60% (sic!) of the fuel used in homes that depend on biomass as their primary energy.

• Of the homes that use woodfuel, 62% gather it from the ground, 38% cut down branches and trees.

• I found this statistic interesting: in about 80% of the homes using woodfuels, men are responsible from collecting the fuel. Women: 17% of the time. Children do the rest.

• Finally, 65% of men carry the woodfuel home on their backs vs 20% for women. Children, pack animals, and motorized vehicles carry the rest.

(I wonder how these figures stack up to African statistics?)

The Update

Nicaragua’s high dependence on woodfuels and its low use of energy efficient stoves made me wonder what was being done on the ground to correct this unsustainable imbalance.

I decided to check in with ProLeña to find out the state of the country’s biomass dependence. Leonardo Mayorga is responsible for ProLeña’s Renewable Energy initiative.

The Charcoal Project: What’s the big picture here, Leonardo?

Leonardo Mayorga: About 90 to 95% of the woodfuel consumed has been illegally obtained and usually comes from protected areas. This puts a lot of pressure on what remains of the tropical dry forest along the country’s Pacific Coast.

Given the country’s dependence on biomass, we need to have a biomass plan in the long run. The country’s focus cannot be to substitute biomass energy with hydrocarbon energy. That’s just not realistic. The focus must be to ensure that there is a sustainable supply of woodfuel through the smart management of forestry resources, along with energy efficiency targets.

TCP: So, is there a national plan?

LM: Sort of. There is a draft law being discussed in parliament right now but it’s in its very early stages. Much of the focus of the law on the efficient use of biomass.

TCP: How does ProLeña work?

LM: Proleña focuses on two main strategies. The first one is the sustainable management of forestry resources for woodfuel supply, and, second, is the better use of biomass and woodfuel.

TCP: Ok. Let’s take the management of the woodfuel supply. How does that work?

There are three main uses of woodfuel in the country: to heat the ovens of the artisanal manufacturers of clay bricks, the calcinations process that produced the quicklime (calcium hydroxide) used in construction, and for domestic and artisanal cooking and heating.

The basic idea we try to promote with each of these groups is that every sector must ensure a sustainable supply of woodfuel for their needs. This means that these groups or associations must take responsibility for their long-term supply of woodfuel by planting trees. And that’s exactly what we’re doing with all three sectors. Among the species that are being planted are eucalyptus, acacia, aripina (local name), melina (Gmelina arborea), and neen.

TCP: What about the energy efficient stoves?

LM: About 600,000 homes in Nicaragua burn woodfuels in open fires. To date we’ve produced some 10,000 energy efficient stoves we call Ecofogones. Our experience is that the Ecofogones work but we have to figure out a way to reduce costs.

Right now they cost between $122 and $213 dollars, which is much too high for the local market, which is why we are targeting the small, artisanal cooks.

We have a line of Ecofogones that run about $50 but even that price is too high.

To try to reduce costs even more, we are experimenting with the import of parts of the stove from China. Our target is $30 a stove. We’re not there yet.

We’re working with the government and experimenting with energy efficient stoves like the Jiko, the Thai Bucket, and a Cambodian (New Lao) stove. They are all metal and have ceramic insulation. This project is being co-financed by the World Bank and the government.

TCP: What about introducing briquettes?

The briquette-making process is much more expensive and harder than with regular woodfuel. The briquettes are made of sawdust, coffee bean and rice husks, as well as cotton residue. The main obstacle remains the cost.

The cost of woodfuel depends on location and time of year but it hovers around $90 to $120 per ton.

Early briquetting projects were carried out by non-profits and the government and they all ended being technical and economic disasters. The main technical obstacle was the fact that the machinery required high pressure and lots of energy to produce the briquettes. The machines were too sophisticated. The technology was just not appropriate to the market.

Nicaragua’s two year old institutional crisis has paralyzed the decision making process in the country’s parliament. What’s more, the United States and donor countries from Europe have temporarily suspended many development aid programs while they await the outcome of the political crisis. Groups like ProLeña can do a lot but without sustained and dependable international funding it will be hard for the country to step in front of what could become a biomass energy crunch down the road.

The Charcoal Project thanks Leonardo Mayorga/ProLeña, Nicaragua and Rogerio Miranda, World Bank, Washington, DC for help in reporting this story.