Environmental research

In rural Sindh, there are a number of problems associated with the design and construction practices of houses. In addition, problems related to energy conservation and fuel efficiency, kitchen smoke, dust, water logging and salinity, unsafe water, inadequate sanitation, animals and humans living together, unhygienic conditions near houses and in general lack of awareness related to environmental problems are common in the region. Realizing the need, BACIP was extended to rural Sindh in 2001 and is referred to as BACIP-Sindh. To-date under this program, six products / technologies have been developed and over 300 BACIP products installed to-date while research work on 8 products / technologies are under progress. A camp office has being set-up in Sujawal. Eight of these products (4 developed and 4 under development) are designed to enhance the energy conservation, fuel efficiency and thermal efficiency of the rural houses complementing firewood and forest conservation practices and reducing smoke emission into the environment. Community Health Sciences (CHS) department of Aga Khan University (AKU) has recently carried out an evaluation of smoke free stoves installed by BACIP-Sindh. The preliminary results suggest that smoke free stoves are socially acceptable, technically efficient, reduce fuel wood requirement (average 30%), reduces CO2 and smoke in kitchen and produce better environment, impacting particularly women and children. Majority of the villages; 89.7% in rural Sindh and 92.3% in project area (Thatta, Hyderabad and Badin districts) use firewood for cooking purpose. Less than 1.5% of the people in the project area have access to natural gas. Only 4.0% of the people use kerosene oil for cooking. The problem related to use of firewood is widely prevalent, causing environment, health and economic problems and hardship for the poor rural communities, particularly women. BACIP has the research and development capacity to develop appropriate solutions for different problems that are affordable, socially acceptable and technically effective. (Smoke free stoves costs Rs. 250, stove with heat exchanger costs Rs 1,000, Fanus costs Rs. 150 and Muhafiz costs Rs. 300). The cost of smoke free stoves is recoverable in less than three months time; considering 30% fuel efficiency and a household using approximately Rs. 300 fuel wood per month. Smoke free stoves and other house improvement products developed by BACIP-Sindh have great potential for mass replication. Timely introduction of BACIP products, particularly related to energy conservation and fuel efficiency, will contribute significantly to forest and environmental conservation. Due to resource constraints, BACIP presently does not have the capacity to promote its products widely, nor could it train entrepreneurs for sustainable replication. Thus, in order to extract maximum impact from BACIP products, the program needs to develop product promotion models for demonstration purpose so that the communities and policy makers could see the benefits themselves. It also needs to concentrate on building capacities through training of artisans and other entrepreneurs, undertake promotion activities and disseminate its research findings to professionals from other NGOs, other institutions and the government.

Pakistan