Around 3 billion people still cook with solid fuels worldwide. The majority of these families lives in Africa, Latin America and Asia. Due to smoke, many of these people fall ill. According to Project Gaia’s official website data, more people die from chronic obstructive respiratory disease (COPD) caused by indoor pollution than from AIDS or malaria. Additionally, deforestation levels rise on a daily basis, since wood is the main fuel used in these homes.
Project Gaia, officially founded in 2007, is a non-profit organization, located in the United States, which works to provide clean cookstoves and clean fuel in order to reduce this damage. Currently, CleanCook stoves are manufactured in Sweden and Slovakia. However, soon, they will also be fabricated in Brazil and Ethiopia.
The project operates in Brazil, Ethiopia, Nigeria and Haiti. Besides, work is in progress in Madagascar and Kenya. Propect studies are nearing completion in South Africa and Malawi. In locations where the project is active, staff members are previously sent out to train families on using the stoves, teaching them how to operate and troubleshoot.
The project is named after the Greek goddess “Gaia”, known for organizing nature elements harmoniously. According to the institution, their mission is to “seeks to harmonize fuel production and use to sustain human life”.