Teaching villagers how to use a fuel-efficient stove. © Cole Roskam/TNC

Alternative Energy
Protecting Forests in China's Yunnan Province

The unsustainable collection and use of fuel wood has serious implications for the local environment in China’s Yunnan Province. Half a million households in northwest Yunnan depend on wood for cooking, heating and housing. Additionally, indoor air pollution from constant wood burning leads to respiratory health problems and disease. In order to protect the 25,000 square miles of land in The Nature Conservancy’s Yunnan Great Rivers Project area, it is necessary to address the needs of the local population for reliable and safe energy.

How it works
To reduce the demand for wood and address the serious threats to health and biodiversity, the Conservancy and local government agencies are providing joint subsidies and technical assistance to install energy alternatives in rural homes and schools. These units range from household scale biogas furnaces and fuel-efficient stoves, to integrated energy demonstrations at school communities.

Threats
In recent years, these ecosystems have been under increasing threat from expanding development and over collection of wood. To accommodate the sharp increase in year-round residents, six new homes are completed each day on average, causing habitat destruction and fragmentation.

• To reduce fuel wood use by 75%—the majority of which will be accomplished by promoting alternative energy sources, but also in part by promoting fuel-efficient stoves and fireplaces.
• To augment the supply and availability of fuel wood.
• To achieve net growth of forests in seriously deteriorated and natural forestland.

What the Conservancy Is Doing

• Enable small entrepreneurs to offer energy products and services to rural customers
• Help fund rural energy services so that poor families will have a means to use more modern and cleaner forms of energy. 
• To date, we have installed approximately 2,500 household biogas, solar heating, micro-hydropower, and biogas-greenhouse units.

Because bamboo plantations have short production cycles and allow non-destructive and frequent harvesting, a viable bamboo industry could positively impact the region’s wood supply. The Conservancy is also looking into feasible ways for local communities to cultivate and sell bamboo products, as well as build energy-efficient homes that incorporate bamboo, energy-efficient insulation, solar heating and other alternative energy sources.