Many Nicaraguans cook on stoves hard on the climate and their health. These Canadians are trying to help

A group of Canadians is working with locals in Nicaragua to replace traditional wood-burning stoves with more efficient, cleaner-burning models that are better for the climate and the families who rely on them.  

"Most of the Central American countries are struggling a bit," said Douglas Thompson, a retired doctor and a volunteer for The Canadian Outreach Medical and Multi Impact Team (COMMIT), based in Stratford, Ont.

"Most of the energy source there is fossil fuel. Their electric grid doesn't extend well into the rural areas as well. So there's a challenge. And for the most part, cooking is done on an open fire stove."

COMMIT is upgrading the stoves because not only is burning wood for fuel a big contributor to greenhouse gasses, it also has major health implications.

Anna Maria Guevara Umaña, who lives in the rural community of Nandarola, Nicaragua, says she's been burned many times by the open fire in conventional wood stoves and that she often worries her family will also suffer long-term health impacts of breathing in smoke on a regular basis. 

"[It's bad] even if you don't have a cold, but if you do, it is even worse," she said. "Because the smoke makes you sneeze, it makes you cough, you get runny eyes, and all the smoke gets in your face. You are inside there with all the smoke and it can hurt."

Janice Rauser, a registered nurse and COMMIT volunteer, says respiratory issues are among the biggest complaints with the patients she sees in the country. "So coughing, asthma, COPD, sore throat, burning eyes, symptoms like that."

According to a report from the United Nations Clean Cooking Alliance, burning wood as fuel is responsible for approximately 1.9 to 2.3 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions. In Nicaragua, burning woodfuel is estimated to contribute five to 20 per cent of total emissions.

But making the switch to alternative sources of energy is not an easy transition for developing nations.

Gajanana Hegde of the United Nations Climate Change Secretariat said emissions from these stoves are a huge problem worldwide. 

"More than two billion people around the world still lacked access to clean cooking at the end of 2021," Hegde said.

Though the UN member nations set a target of universal access to clean cooking by 2030, Hedge said they'll likely fall short by 30 per cent. "The progress so far has not been enough."

A report from the International Energy Agency, also looking at the Nicaraguan population as of 2021, found that just 56 per cent had access to more modern fuels and technologies for cooking.