In September 2000, millennium summit held in the New York, USA focused on achieving significant measurable improvements in peoples lives by defining the different eight goals(Poston et al., 2003). In the summit, 191 United Nations member states along with Nepal had pledged to meet these goals by the year 2015. The first seven goals focus on eradicating extreme poverty and hunger, achieving universal primary education, promoting gender equality and empowering women, reducing child mortality, improving maternal health, combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases and ensuring environmental sustainability. The eighth goal calls for the creation of a global partnership for development, with targets for aid, trade, and debt relief.
The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) has targeted on conserving the environment. It is dedicated to environmental protection, making explicit reference to climate change, desertification, biodiversity and forest and water management. The framework of MDGs captures the environmental concerns in Goal 7: Ensure environmental sustainability. The targets associated with this goal refer to mainstreaming the environment in policy and programs, reversing the loss of environmental resources, and improving access to environmental services.
Introduction
In Nepal, biomass energy, fuel wood, agri-residue and cow dung is used for cooking purpose. Use of traditional stoves (which is about 8% efficient) such as "agenu" and "chulo" has low efficiency consuming more fuel simultaneously increasing the burden on women(Wang, 2009). In Nepal, women are mainly responsible for household activities such as cooking collecting biomass. The use of biomass energy and low-grade biomass fuels leads to excessive levels of indoor air pollution. Women and children are particularly exposed to the smoke emission for longer period. This is one of the reasons for higher rates of infant mortality and morbidity. Release of incomplete carbon products in the atmosphere from poor combustion of biomass results in greenhouse gas effect. More than 80% of the energy need of Nepal is fulfilled by fuel wood thus exerting immense pressure on the ever depleting forest resources of the country(Upadhaya, 2010).
A modified version of the traditional cooking stove is the Improved Cook Stove (ICS).Its efficiency is about 15%(Dhakal and Raut, 2010). This produce no smoke or less smoke during cooking and preserve more heat than ordinary traditional cooking stove. Impact of this stove is positive on health especially women and children. It also consumes less fuel wood for cooking, which eventually reduce the pressure on forest resources and maintain the environmental sustainability.
Statement of Need
Millennium Development Goals aim to encourage development by improving social, economic and environmental conditions in the world's poorest countries. The seventh goal of the MDGs discuss about the environmental sustainability. It has three targets and six indicators. One of the targets of this goal is to reverse the loss of environmental resources through the reduction in the proportion of population that uses firewood as their main sources of the energy. In Nepal, more than 80% of the population uses this firewood as their main source of energy. Narrowing down this status to Chitwan district, a study by Narama (2006) has shown that still 95.4% of the household are using solid fuels as the major source of energy. The major sources of fuel wood are the community forests, national parks, national forests as well as the buffer zone forest. The consumption of fuel is a much higher than the sustainable yield of the forest which is definitely impacting the resources.
Therefore, the increasing demand on solid fuels and the necessity of forest conservation can be addressed by the increment on the use of alternative sources of energy. The high demand on solid fuels can be reduced by encouraging on the use of Improved Cooking Stove, etc which on the long run helps in the forest conservation and ensure the environmental sustainability.
Justification
The increasing population requires more energy to sustain. In present context more than 80% of the Nepalese population uses the traditional energy system which basically depends on the forest resources. If the trend is not shifted to sustainability mode then the increasing population will have no choice rather than to follow on this energy system which will lead to the resource diminishment. So the increment on the uses of alternative energy (Improved Cooking System) which could replace the traditional system and maintain resources as well as the overall livelihood aspect of human beings. The direct and indirect benefits of ICS includes: increased thermal efficiency, the conservation of forests by cutback in firewood consumption, reduction in women’s labor, reduction in indoor air pollution and hence smoke-released health disorders, prevention of fire hazards, reduction of cooking time.
Researches revealed that the use of firewood could be reduced by 45% on the adoption of ICS. This reduction simultaneously save the time for collecting firewood, reduces the indoor air pollution, improve the maternal and child health as well as carbon dioxide release in the atmosphere. Therefore, the ICS adoption could meet the target of ensuring sustainable environment through the reduction of firewood using population.
Objectives
The general objective of this program is to launch program that contribute in achieving MDGs in the Chitwan district
Specific Objectives
To study the basic parameters significant to sustainable environment, livelihood, poverty reduction, particularly that meets in the achievement of MDGs targets of the district.
To analyze the present scenarios of a study area community and its consistency with the established basic parameters
To perform comparative analysis based on the output of specific objectives first and second mentioned above
To analyze the overall benefits, constraints and implementation cost of alternative energy program (ICS) in the community that could meet the targets of MDGs
Methodology
The following approach can be adopted to link up the potential sectors where alternative energy (ICS) can significantly contribute to meet the target of MDGs.
Household Income
Education
Health and Sanitation
Gender
Energy and Environment
The following data collection tools can be used in conducting this study:
Structured/ Semi structured questionnaire for household survey
Key informants interview- VDC, DDC, municipality, health posts, etc
Focus Group Discussions
National/Regional/District indicators â€" Annual income of family, literacy rate, Drinking water facilities, Health posts, Toilet facilities, Cooking fuel, etc.
Output
A vision on the socio- economic, environmental status of the area and the role of ICS in its development will be established
This study will quantify the links between energy initiatives and development outcomes that aid the achievement of the MDGs in Chitwan district.
Dhakal, S., Raut, A.K., 2010. Potential and bottlenecks of the carbon market: The case of a developing country, Nepal. Energy Policy 38, 3781-3789.
Poston, M., Christiansen, K., Conway, T., 2003. The Millennium Development Goals and the IDC: driving and framing the Committee’s work. ODI, London.
Upadhaya, S., 2010. Energy Crisis and Nepal’s Potentiality. The Initiation 2, 130-135.
Wang, Q., 2009. Prevention of Tibetan eco-environmental degradation caused by traditional use of biomass. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 13, 2562-2570.
