Environmental research

Indoor air pollution is a cross-cutting issue. Cutting down trees for fuel leads to deforestation and desertification and is linked to greenhouse gas emissions and climate change. But it is also a gender issue as it affects the health of women who are most exposed to the indoor smoke and are often the last in the family to avail of medical treatment; and it affects children`s health causing respiratory problems.Typical poisonous pollutants in fuel smoke produced by poor burning include small particles of carbon monoxide and nitrogen dioxide, and substances containing carbon and hydrogen (hydrocarbons) and sometimes chlorine. A traditional wood-fired cooking stove can be a toxic waste factory and typical biomass cook stoves convert 6-20 percent of the carbon to toxic substances. A research commissioned by Practical Action and Indoor Air Pollution Health forum Nepal on Energy Policy Gaps in South Asia in 2006 has revealed many shortcomings, which amongst others important recommendations highlight the technical, institutional, and policy barriers. Technical barrier has been identified as one of the major hurdles in promoting energy efficient technology. As many people are less informed of imported technologies or cannot apply their knowledge and skills to maintain the disorders of technology. Wider dissemination and design of technology with stakeholders as per their need is therefore crucial to enable the people to manage the technology in their way. Like wise institutional and policy barriers further perpetuate the energy poverty thus taking less into account of environment and health implications or environmental health problem caused by IAP. The learning from local level should be reflected at national level and thus influence policy and institutional reforms to resolve the problem of energy, poverty and environment more coherently. Involvement of GEF-SGP in household energy management will be a sanguine and deliberate step towards addressing environment protection by helping contribute to technical barriers. Since SGP has different focal areas yet all contribute to and related with protection of global environment, the energy management programme could be promising to solve globally threatening climate change. The project intends to employ the activities that benefits at the forefront to women, children and poor without whom the protection of local environment is virtually impossible.

Nepal