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:: Biogas Fuels Sustainable Agriculture in Tibet
+ 15.02.2007 + They were told it would never work in the high altitude
and cold climate of Tibet. But a Beijing-based non-profit and Worldwatch
Institute partner, the Global Environmental Institute (GEI), has successfully
implemented a biogas program in the mountainous Chinese province.
The project provides clean, renewable energy to households and complements
the region’s growing organic agriculture trade. Located in Wujinmai
Village, it is the most recent outgrowth of GEI’s sustainable
rural development program and mirrors a three-year-old program in
Yunnan province that boosted farmer incomes 20-fold.
GEI’s program, launched in April 2006, uses a three-pronged
approach to address issues of pollution and poverty, according to
assistant executive director Lila Buckley. The first component is
composting animal manure, a potential groundwater pollutant, into
both biogas for energy and fertilizer for growing organic crops. GEI
trains farmers to manage and maintain the “upfloating”
biogas systems, small tanks that employ simple technology and require
only one cow or three pigs to provide 1–2 five-person households
with year-round heating and cooking fuel. The clean, renewable, and
free source of energy eliminates the need for Tibetans to spend hours
each day collecting firewood. Sunny but cold Tibet provides ideal
conditions for the second element of the program: greenhouses for
organic agriculture production that double as homes for the biogas
tanks, which would otherwise freeze. The third component involves
capacity building and skills training to help the farmers learn
to better manage their new businesses selling surplus organic vegetables.
Though the project is less than a year old, Buckley notes it is
“working amazingly well.” In November, according to
a GEI news release, Tibet’s Development and Reform Commission
inspected the villagers’ understanding and use of the biogas
system and announced plans to replicate the project in nearby Shangsan
Village in the coming year.
This story was produced by Eye on Earth, a joint project of the
Worldwatch Institute and the blue moon fund. View the complete archive
of Eye on Earth stories, or contact Staff Writer Alana Herro at
aherro [AT] worldwatch [DOT] org with your questions, comments,
and story ideas.
Quelle:
Worldwatch Institute 2007
By Alana Herro |
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