Biogas Plants Ease Ecological Stress in India’s Remote Villages

Abstract

Increasing human population growth and persistent poverty in developing countries continue to influence ecological degradation, especially of forests around the world. About 4.2% of the forest cover that stood in 1990 had disappeared by the end of the decade (FAO 2001). The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (2005), determined that of the 24 ecosystem services examined, including freshwater, food, climate, and air quality, 15 (62.5%) are presently being degraded or used unsustainably. Similarly, an appraisal from the World Conservation Union (2004) on the status of global forest plant diversity showed that 45% of the plant species assessed, have been classified as endangered or critically endangered with the possibility of extinction. In developing countries, wood is traditionally the main source of fuel for rural people who live adjacent to forest areas. About 2.5 billion people, mostly in Asia, use firewood or other biomass collected from forest for energy (Starke 2004). In India alone, over 80% of the total energy consumed in rural areas comes from biomass fuels such as firewood, crop residues and livestock dung (Ravindranath et al. 2000). The average person in the United States of America consumes five time more energy than the average global citizen, ten times more than the average Chinese, and nearly 20 times more than the average Indian (Starke 2004). With the on-going destruction of forests due to overuse and degradation, scarcity of wood has become increasingly common in Asia. Since livestock such as cattle, buffalo, sheep, and goat are common in villages of the developing world, animal dung is the most easily available and abundant biomass for fuel and the burning of dung is common in rural areas. Cow dung has been used as both fertilizer and fuel in many countries around the world for centuries (Hall and Moss 1983). The need for affordable, clean and renewable energy to enhance sustainable development has been reiterated recently by the World Energy Council (2006) and the UN Commission on Sustainable Development (2007). Methane gas produced from organic matter can be utilized as fuel with less impact on natural forest ecology than the use of firewood. This paper presents data on household biogas plants successfully established by a non-profit agency in remote tribal villages of western India with an emphasis on their impact in enhancing local ecology and relieving economic stress in rural communities.