Proceedings of the UNESCO - University of Tsukuba International Seminar on Traditional Technology for Environmental Conservation and Sustainable Development in the Asian-Pacific Region, held in Tsukuba Science City, Japan, 11-14 December, 1995.
Editors: Kozo Ishizuka, D. Sc. , Shigeru Hisajima, D. Sc. , Darryl R.J. Macer, Ph.D.
Some sensible and feasible low technologies are explained in this paper. Reference and full text are appended. The subject being broad based illustrations are drawn from different fields of human activity affecting the "have-nots" more than the "haves" to expressly expose dreadful trends and to indicate what should and should not be done to bring about limits to growth and to restrict, not the advancement, but the application of high technology in a balanced manner.
1. Water
Low Technology
World attention to this method was drawn by the UNEP-IETC Newsletter in Winter 1995 published from Osaka, Japan. This project must be copied, improved, and promoted all over the world to save the environment, scarce energy and to provide potable and hygienic water for the poor.
If man made sea water canals are dug as in Dubai or in Madras, India, this method can be followed even far away from coastal areas. The Buckingham sea water canal which connects Madras and Nellore is 420 km long and passes through very drought prone areas and was once a green belt of Peninsular India during the British rule.
If sea water is made available in drought areas it can be desalinated on a domestic scale using the RYFO 2 bucket contraption or the RYFO 4 mud pot contraption. These improved contraptions are based on the traditional technology followed by hill tribes and villagers to brew illicit alcohol by heating fermented and contaminated liquid which contains deadly evil bacteria. The method is followed in almost all developing countries from time immemorial (Ref. 3, App.2).
2. Foliage Briquettes
When foliage briquettes are used, a heat augmenter is also used to save on briquettes and reduce the heating time. Heat augmenter is explained in (Ref.6 RYFO, Handout 732. App.7).
3. Fish
Here in coastal Japan there is a traditional practice of throwing used automobile tyres into the sea for fish to lay eggs inside the tyres and for small fish to hide there when big fish approach to swallow them. This simple and innovatively wise technology not only finds an excellent way to profitably use old tyres but it is also a way to increase fish production and supplement food. (Ref. 8 RYFO Handout 728. App.9). Advanced countries which have the problem of disposing of old tyres must follow this method.
4. Fish Fertilizer
5. Fish glue
The residue is used as fertilizer or as fish and chicken feed. The fast multiplying edible fish recommended for sea water canals is the Milk fish (Chanos Chanos) (Ref. 11. RYFO Handout 611. App.12).
6. Saline Agriculture
If sea water canals are dug in drought areas halophytes can be planted and promoted to yield, edible leaves, fruits, nuts, oil, barks, fibre, dyes, foliage, medicinal herbs and fuel wood. Coconut trees and Alexandria Laurels, (Callophyllum Inophyllum) popularly known as Thakka Maka in the Island Republic of Seychelles are classical examples of trees which grow washed by sea waves. Coconut and many palm trees are already found in 83 countries of the world. (Ref.13 RYFO Handout 612 App.14).
7. Salicornia SOS-10
8. Water Hyacinth
9. Water Ways
If these canals are made navigable, row boats, pedal boats, sail boats and a limited number of motor boats may be introduced to relieve traffic congestion, smoke and pollution and there will be saving on expensive non renewable motor oil. Even road accidents will reduce.
The book, Making Development Sustainable (World Bank Fiscal 1994) says in page 38, "Recent Studies and projects" show growing attention to the transport needs of the urban poor, especially through non-motorised transport (NMT) defined as any form of transport in which the primary source of energy is non-mechanical or is natural propulsion (for example sailboats)". This sort of transport needs for the urban poor can be ideally met by providing them man-made sea water canals, sailboats, rowboats, and pedal boats. They are cheap, environment friendly and can relieve traffic congestion. More than that the canals will provide water close by for the poor to fetch and desalinate.
Forest Islands should also be promoted to encourage healthy reforestation. Otherwise forests will provide shelter for terrorists and drug traffickers. (Ref. 17, App.18). Further, city sewage can be flushed with sea water and taken to edible crop fields for cultivating semi-saline agriculture.
10. Land filling
Wherever sea is erosive this sand should be used to build sea defense (barriers) along with stones, waste collection from homes and roads, tetrarons or tetrapods and saline trees (Halophytes). Countries such as the Maldives or Guyana are always being eroded by sea and such countries should fast follow this proven method.
With sand coming in, mole hills and small mountains may be raised the same way, and rain water catchment areas may be formed in the middle for storing rain water and supplying to towns and cities. (Ref. 19, RYFO Handout 553 App.20).
To sum up, like Malta or Belize, the Kerala State in Peninsular India, or in some islands of the Philippines, there should be sea water ways and lagoons close to people and a net work of sea water canals all over the world, like the railway lines, to eliminate transport bottlenecks, to reduce car exhaust pollution, to provide employment for the poor, to make water available for desalination, to restore lost animal power, saline agriculture, cattle washing, fish farming, duck raising and for people to bathe, swim and promote kitchen and roof gardens. Humanity has to exploit and learn to depend on the sea and the tree for its survival, for a healthy environment and ecology in the 21st century which is only about 60 months away from now.
The comment of Ryan Foundation on water scarcity and World Bank funding is: It is better to give one million dollars to commission one eco-friendly water project in every town than to give 100 million dollars to commission one eco-unfriendly project in every country. Small is beautiful, feasible and sensible while big is harmful, wasteful and avoidable.
SURVIVAL BY SEA WATER (Reproduced with Courtesy from INSIGHT)
In the fall edition of LETC. INSIGHT. Mr. Totaro Goto's article "Fresh water from the Sea" raised a timely and important issue of growing urgency. INSIGHT readers may find this further discussion of desalination both useful and informative.
Water problems in the Middle East are getting more and more acute every year. International conferences on water have been noting the problems and possible solutions over and over without bringing relief to those who suffer from water shortage. The Ryan Foundation, based in India, which advocates simple and inexpensive desalination, has taken a positive approach to this problem and encourages the exploitation of sea water for survival. Below is a brief explanation of several of the methods the Foundation promotes.
North of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, sea water is being converted into fresh water on a large scale using solar power. Powerful lenses magnify sunlight by 40 times to produce steam and the steam is used to run coolers which freeze sea water. When sea water freezes, the salt collects on the outside of ice crystals and can be separated by washing the crystals in fresh water. The crystals are then melted into fresh water. This method uses wave, wind and solar energy, all abundant renewable energies, to convert sea water into potable water. The Jeddah plant is producing millions of gallons of water annually, enough to meet the domestic needs of some 12,600 people daily.
Further research is bound to simplify this technology to make it even more economical than it is today. Windmills can be used to lift sea water into stainless steel boilers and freezers, and a row of these units could bring large tracts of land under fresh water irrigation, promoting food production, employment and income, in addition to giving people water for drinking and bathing.
Direct applications are also available. Man-made sea water canals, such as the canal cutting across Dubai or the Buckingham Canal running parallel to the East Coast of Peninsular India, can be commissioned for direct use. Canals can be used for navigation, desalination, saline agriculture and for promoting sea food production.
When sea water is made available in open-cut canals, local residents can easily perform desalination using simple evaporation and condensation methods. In addition, canals offer water for cleaning cattle and for keeping toilets clean. Today, 40 percent of potable water used worldwide is used in the toilets of urban centers. With earthenware and rigid PVC pipes, sea water can be used for flushing toilets.
Scientists are also finding new crops that can grow on saline soil irrigated with sea water. Hundreds of plants and trees have been identified in a USAID book. "Saline Agriculture", and in 1990, the US National Research Council published the results of a four year study of hundreds of plants that can tolerate salt and sea water. Ben Gurion University is demonstrating the use of halophytes (salt loving plants and trees) in Askelon, Israel. Dr. Pasternak at the University believes that growing field crops from sea water is the key to the future of desert agriculture and points out that cotton has so taken to salt water that yields have been increased by 20 percent. Oil and medicinal plants are already being grown near the ultra-salty Dead Sea and in Eilat on the Red Sea.
Sea water is part of the solution to the global water problem, and these are some simple methods to harness sea water for human need and progress. What is often needed for us is political will to provide water to facilitate sustainable development. Political will still seems to be lacking because many of these "do-it-yourself methods" do not require capital intensive, high technology which is often favoured by governments.
APPENDIX 2: SIMPLE SEA WATER DISTILLATION (The RYFO 4 Pots Still)
Is it really possible to distill 1.25 litre of sea water to one litre of good drinking water in half an hour on a Magan Chulla by means of two big and two small mud pots? Yes, according to Felix Ryan, from Ryan Foundation in Madras, India.
The United Nations conferred on Ryan the UN Global 500 Honour in 1989 for his outstanding environmental achievements in Third-World countries, especially in the field of energy for cooking.
Distillation of drinking water by Ryan's method has the following 10 salient features:
1. The water gets desalinated automatically when a woman cooks her daily meal.
2. The stove and still are made of mud (clay) or RYFO mortar mix and they can be easily moulded by villagers or village potters. The composition of the RYFO MIX is:- Clayey sand 6 parts, mineral lime (chunam) one part, and Surki 2 parts. (Surki is burnt clay or burnt bricks powdered and sieved). This mixture sets faster and binds better than sand and lime (only).
3. No foreign matter such as metal, plastic or mill made cement are required.
4. Every time food is cooked for the family, about 2 litres (2 bottles) of clean water is obtained to drink and cook.
5. It is easy to set and dismantle the still, even a child can do it.
6. RYFO foliage briquettes are also made by villagers around their huts using the "RYFO JACK LIFT" method. No non-renewable fuel, no cutting of trees. The RYFO JACK LIFT method is explained in other publications.
7. The stove and the still can be made, owned, used and maintained by each family in every village.
The steam from the boiling sea water condenses on the cold bottom of the upper pot and drips into the small inner pot. The small pot filled with mud provides space and insulation between the fire and the desalinated water, thus preventing it from evaporating.
8. All that is to be provided to the village community is sea water canals or channels close by. Sea water streamlets should be cut across every village that is short of water. The water from the stream can be used also for bathing, washing, saline agriculture etc.
9. The mud pots required are usually available readily in rural homes or can be made by the local village potter.
10. Metal pots may also be used if available.
The all-clay stove cum still has a new simple design. See figure. (Appendix 2).
Water evaporates at room temperature. When fire is applied, sea water in the bottom pot evaporates, hits the bottom of the big pot on top, condenses, and drips through the hole in the saucer, into the small empty pot. As the lid has only a one cm. hole, the water, once it condenses, does not evaporate again. The mud-filled small pot collects and holds the condensed water.
Field testing shows that, in about 30 minutes, depending on the heat applied, about 2 litres of water is collected in the small pot, and the water is clean, hygienic, safe, and healthy. Only 2 litres are obtained if cooking is done on a Magan Chulha, and yet a Magan Chulha is recommended because it is very commonly used in rural areas now, especially in India.
Maximum or optimum collection of water is available only when the still is removed the next morning, as condensation goes on overnight. Two stills can be placed on the Magan Chulha at the same time to yield more water.
Newsletter for the International Network for Sustainable Energy ; INforSE; No. 9 June 1995
RYAN FOUNDATION RICE POT STILL
Water evaporates in room temperature and vapours condense (change into liquid state) when they cool down. Copy right of this innovation of Dr. Ryan is NOT reserved as it is meant for the poor. Mass Communication requested.
APPENDIX 3: THEY CUT TREES TO LIVE
The poor have been cutting trees for firewood and timber trade for their livelihood from time immemorial and their "Live by the tree" culture cannot be changed within a span of a decade or two by any amount of propaganda or persuasion.
Rural poor grow some cereals and vegetables with difficulty to feed themselves and their undernourished children, and have no work or money to purchase anything, even the bare necessities of life, including cooking fuel. If governments deprive them of the use of God-given free fuel they will simply perish. The cost of living is so high and their level of poverty so very low that the poor will try to live somehow, be it by cutting trees, breaking rocks or digging the earth and selling the sand (i.e. by exploiting factors of production which Nature has provided free). This is survival economics of the poor, and millions all over the world live today by these methods, especially by cutting trees.
When governments are not able to provide gainful employment for the poor, introduce social security measures, and provide them alternative sources of energy for which they need not have to pay money, and provide them occupations other than those based on trees and wood, reforestation efforts in many parts of the world are bound to be a self-defeating exercise.
A government that deprives the very poor people even of their cooking fuel that is provided free by Nature without giving them suitable alternatives is certainly guilty of violating the fundamental human right to live. It is as bad as condemning the poor to malnutrition, sickness and starvation leading to death.
Says the Brandt Commission. "It cannot be accepted that in one part of the world most people live relatively comfortably, while in another, they struggle for sheer survival... Morally it makes no difference whether a human being is killed in war or is condemned to starve to death because of the indifference of others.
The tall claims of many governments and impressive press reports on alternative cooking fuel do not touch even the fringe of the problem. Nothing or very little reaches the poor, and when they do reach, the poor are made to pay for these alternatives which are beyond their means, while Nature-provided tree branches are free of cost to them. Some governments subsidizes equipment and tools, but even if they are given away free the rural poor have no means of maintaining them. It is common knowledge that lack of maintenance is the prime cause of failure of most of our projects given to the poor. The 1984-85 Administrative Report of the Controller and Auditor General of India is most revealing in this regard and gives a very dismal picture about the working of biogas projects in India.
Occasional good results are made much of and published by governments, but a few swallows do not make a summer. The same may be said of harnessing solar energy for cooking. This fancy idea will never catch the poor of the Third World in this century as it is not at all easy to change their in born culture and traditional life style. Where are the poor in India or Africa who use solar energy? If ever, some rich people use them as a status symbol. Let facts be faced boldly.
Conditions of the very poor in many other countries are no better. Poverty, malnutrition, discontentment and premature deaths are increasing. What is the use of talking about a New World Economic Order without facing grass-root realities? Half the world does not know how the other half lives, and yet it is this half that plans for the other half, and this is the greatest tragedy and paradox of humanity.
In the West, alternative sources of cooking fuel remain a status symbol. People like to talk about appropriate technology and own and display small gadgets. A very learned German who was in India recently said that he and many of his neighbours owned hand-operated moulding machines to press waste paper into briquettes to fuel room heaters but nobody really used them. So it is. Even in the advanced West, society takes time to change its culture and life style. Change is the only positive thing that brings about progress and yet people do not easily change old methods to new. The poor in particular will not change if the change involves even a little money, to break tradition passed on from generation to generation. "What worked in grand mother's time is good enough" attitude is strong among the poor.
The cost of gadgets or devices is the main factor that hampers the spread of appropriate technology into the poor countries. Gazifiers, expensive briquette making machines, solar cookers fabricated in far away cities, improved choolas etc. are all too costly for the poor and therefore these technologies are now in the hands of the rich societies' top layers. Most of these recent inventions and innovations require electric power or diesel or steam which are not available in the rural Third World and where available, they are very costly.
AT practitioners should realize that the poor who do not have money to buy a kitchen knife or even a match box cannot purchase machines or machine-made briquettes however cheap they may be, especially when they are to be bought for daily consumption.
In our anxiety to speed up and spread AT and produce revolutionary results let us not ignore the correct concept of AT as conceived and popularized by Schumacher. Appropriate technology is a technical term and should refer strictly to low cost technology which uses mostly local or easily obtainable and inexpensive materials and skills to meet community needs or to reduce its burden of living under different situations. India's first visionary Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru called the scientists to work out solutions to problems of the rural poor by making use of local resources/materials available within their living area. Gandhi also favoured and laid emphasis on the same concept.
APPENDIX 4: THE BITTER CASSAVA RYFO HANDOUT 724
Different types of Cassava satisfy a range of needs. There are early maturing varieties and late maturing varieties. There are those that yield little starch. There are giant size cassava and pygmy type. There are also sweet cassava and bitter ones to taste. Cassava leaves are used as spinach and all unwanted parts and roots of Cassava are used as pig meal, as fuel and also for brewing beer.
Some varieties are grown for extreme "bitterness" to prevent damage by wild pigs and rats. Usually bitter ones are grown all around the sweet varieties. In the Lake Victoria Zone of North Tanzania people grow several varieties of Cassava including the very bitter ones. The bitter ones yield plenty of starch which can be used to make RYFO foliage briquettes. In the Lake Victoria zone most families grow two or three bitter varieties around four or five sweet varieties.
The Tuber Research Centre of the Government of India has evolved giant and juicy Cassavas each of the size of about 60 cm long and 30 cms broad weighing 10 to 15 kg each. This variety can be promoted on a large scale for providing starch for briquetting from the point of view that they are wanted neither by people nor by beasts and they grow without cultivation and care.
Cassavas can be let to remain under ground to a long length of time, even for 3 or 4 years, and taken out for use when required. Nature stores Cassava for the poor man to save him during famine and drought.
APPENDIX 5: WEIGHT FOR BRIQUETTES RYFO HANDOUT 730
Mixed dried leaves (foliage) briquettes is a positive answer to the problem of rural cookstove energy, and energy for heating sea water for desalination. Several ways of grinding foliage into granules and binding them into briquettes using tamarind seed starch, cassava or other root crop starch as binder have been explained by the Ryan Foundation in several publications. An easy way advocated is to use two strong wooden boxes (village made) of the size of a building brick or block. One box without the bottom and the top lid (only the sides) to serve as the female mould and the other closed on all the six sides to serve as the male mould, to fit into the female frame.
When the ground foliage mixed with the available binder, preferably cassava starch, is loaded into the female frame after oiling the sides and pressed with the male mould a hard solid briquette is formed. Harder the pressing, stronger the briquettes and the longer it burns. Several methods are explained by RYFO for pressing briquettes.
Cassava roots may be chopped and put into the same mould, and pressed the same way to get the starch (milk) out of it for binding.
But in down and out God forsaken villages where metal devices are scarce and costly, a traditional grinding stone, or crushing stone of the type shown in the diagram, which is available in almost all village homes, may be placed on the male mould to compress the foliage mix inside the female mould. When the stone is placed on top of the box and left overnight the briquette is well compressed and hard the next morning. It is to be dried or broken into two or three pieces and dried and then used in the place of firewood for cooking and costs nothing in money value. Briquettes so made are excellent to heat and desalinate sea water in RYFO 4 pot stills which are now used in several villages in some countries, including Somalia.
The foliage briquettes making "MOVEMENT" will make the villagers plant more trees and sea water fed trees and drought trees which don't need watering and those that are not browsed by cattle. RYFO has identified and published these trees in several publications. Villagers will sweep and collect the foliage every day and that will keep their environment clean and healthy. (Avoid transportation to save the rural poor).
APPENDIX 6: FOLIAGE BRIQUETTES-FIELD TEST REPORT RYFO HANDOUT 726
The foliage is first sun dried for about 3 days to bring down the moisture level to 15 percent from about 50 percent. If they are spread out on metal sheets or tiled roof-tops the moisture level further drops by about 5 percent. Longer drying makes the leaves brittle. They are crushed and shred more or less to particle size of one cm. After being made into particles, cassava starch is added and compressed by hand, or in moulds, and dried again. Harder the compression longer the burning capacity.
If compressed in a Cinva Ram or RYFO Ram, the Calorific value can be about 3500 to 4000 K Cal/kg and if compressed in a car jack as explained by Ryan Foundation, it can take a Calorific value of 4000 to 4500 K Cal/kg or about the same as charcoal. But in common rural production it is easy to give a calorific value of 3200 K Cal/kg to serve as excellent and priceless domestic fuel for rural homes. The smoke and ash produced by foliage briquettes is little but this of course depends on the type of leaves (foliage) used and the percentage of moisture the finished briquettes contain. If the briquettes are moulded in hydraulic press or in an injection moulding machine with cassava starch as binder they are as good as coal. The finished briquettes are again dried on tin sheets or corrugated roofing sheets. Corrugated sheets dry them quicker than flat sheets.
Water hyacinth, eucalyptus leaves, locally available shrubs etc. all mixed make good briquettes, and briquettes made this way are excellent for boiling sea water in RYFO 4 pots still to get healthy drinking water. Indeed, foliage briquettes are ideal replacement for firewood as cooking fuel. They can be made by villagers entirely with local raw materials and without investment or dependence on outside help and transportation. Rural technology can be appropriate only when it totally eliminates transportation costs.
APPENDIX 7: HEAT AUGMENTER RYFO HANDOUT 732
(Boils Sea Water Faster)
For the poor village women cookstove is always a problem. She cannot afford gas, oil or electricity and so turns to tree branches/twigs or shrubs.
Foliage ground and mixed with cassava starch and compressed into briquettes is a good substitute but the briquettes don't burn for a long time and the heat they produce is comparatively low unless they are very well compressed and dried. Iron moulds for hard compression is not always available.
To tide over this problem RYAN FOUNDATION recommends a HEAT AUGMENTER. This is simply a shield or guard around the fuel stove built out of brick and mortar as shown in the top diagram or just moulded out of good clay as shown in the diagram small. The device encases the cooking pot and the stove and retains the heat for a long time between the pot and the guard.
When a heat augmenter is used food cooks much faster and sea water boils very quick. There is no loss of heat.
Heat Augmenter can be built inside a hut, under a tree or out in the open. The flow of air and oxygen is regulated and the fire keeps burning steadily.
Common village bricks or common clay may be used to build a heat augmenter. If good clay is not available common earth may be converted into clay as explained in RYFO booklet. Alternatively, RYFO mortar mix may be used which is also explained in the booklet.
APPENDIX 8: SEA WATER SWIMMING PONDS RYFO HANDOUT 711
Families living in villages can have their own sea water swimming ponds as they own open cut wells now. They can dig the ponds in their own lands or in no man's lands, may be a little high on one side and low on the other, so that water drawn from nearby running sea water canals or channels will enter in and enter out and join the main stream. Each pond may be 4m long and 3m broad and have 1m depth on one side and 1.5m depth the opposite side. Casuarina, Eucaly, or any country wood poles may be pegged all around the pond to prevent sliding. The pond may be fenced with Prosopis Juliflora to prevent children and cattle straying in. Stone or mud and thorn heaps may be raised all around to prevent reptiles going in. But the best way to enclose the pond will be to build a 4 feet wall around with RYFO bricks. The compound may have a gate with lock and key. Women who seek privacy may fetch a pot or two from the pool and bathe indoors. They may also fetch water to wash their floor and toilets and to water some halophytes.
During hot summer they may lavishly splash sea water on their roof and all around to keep cool. In fact, sea water canals, channels, ponds and pools in the area will reduce the temperature of the villages. When the pool is so near to their hut the women will find it easy to fetch the water and desalinate it by one of the RYFO methods. APPENDIX 9: THE JAPANESE METHOD RYFO HANDOUT 728
Japan is one of the leading fish producing countries of the world. For increasing fish population an ideal method followed by the country, that can be copied the world over, is the `TYRE SINKING' method. In several coastal areas and prefectures, there is a time worn practice or unwritten law, to throw or dump the used and unwanted automobile tyres in specified areas near the sea. Group Leaders of the fishing communities or the prefecture authorities have arranged to lift the thrown away tyres by steam launches and motor boats and sink them into the sea up to a distance of ten km from the shore.
How does this help the fishing industry? Fishes lay eggs inside the tyres and they are hatched there. Also, the small fishes take cover inside the tyres when the big fishes chase to swallow them. Thus, the fish population has multiplied a thousand times in the country during the past quarter century. This method is practiced in inland water ponds and pools and in lagoons as well.
Globally speaking, the mortality rate of sea fishes is 90 percent and the survival rate is only 10 percent. But Japan has reduced the mortality rate in its coastal territory to about 70 percent and increased the survival rate to about 30 percent. This method helps the country to dispose of unwanted and discarded used tyres profitably and to reduce toxic waste.
ABSURD INDIAN METHOD
In India many factories which have boilers and furnaces purchase the discarded tyres and throw them into the furnace to keep the boilers boiling. The tyres burn long and produce a very high calorie of heat thus saving on diesel oil, coal or electricity which are very costly now in India. Transporting and storing oil or coal are also difficult and costly. Money minded industrialists are not bothered about the pollution and the destruction that the burning tyres cause and the Governments don't take notice of this health and environment hazard. The higher officials don't seem to know that this is happening and the lower officials do not realize the damage that the burning tyres cause to human health, atmosphere and the future generations. Those who know, take bribes and abet the burning of tyres willfully.
There are factories in India, perhaps in some other countries also, which separate the rubber from the sulphur in the tyres and sell the recycled rubber to tyre factories to be mixed with unused rubber to reduce the cost of manufactured tyres or to increase the profits of tyre factories. This process of recycling also pollutes the atmosphere and must be stopped at all costs. Ryan Foundation has a booklet explaining several uses for used tyres and tubes.
The best method is the Japanese method as it promotes fish, fish based industries and thousands of livelihood activities, directly or indirectly. Sinking tyres is a low technology to solve problems created by high technology. NGOs everywhere must popularize and promote the Japanese method and stop the Indian method of burning tyres.
APPENDIX 10: GLUE OUT OF FISH WASTE RYFO HANDOUT 501
Take all unwanted parts of edible fish and the whole of non-edible fish. If you include salted or dried fish, wash and remove the salt first. Keep the collected parts soaked in water at least for a whole day and wash them at least 4 times with drinking water. Then chop and mince the contents and wash again in potable water twice or thrice.
Transfer contents to a wooden board, chop and mince it including the bones and put it into a suitable vessel and don't put a lid on the vessel so that the unpleasant smell escapes while boiling. For boiling, place the vessel with the contents inside a simple double walled drum (take a big drum, place a brick in the middle of the bottom of it, put a smaller drum on the brick and fill water between the walls of the two drums and place the vessel in the middle of the small drum) close the big drum with a lid and put fire under it and the steam will circulate and cook the contents. For diagram of a double walled drum see Handout 287. Once or twice remove the lid and stir the contents with a ladle and cook until the content becomes Jelly-like. Allow the cooked matter to settle down and then skim and remove the top layer of oil. Filter and separate the liquid in the middle, i.e., between the oily top skimmed and removed and the cooked matter below. Filter this liquid in a plastic or wire mesh or thin cloth (bandage cloth or mosquito curtain cloth may be used). As you heat this liquid outside the drum in low fire it will thicken and give you a fine glue. Keep heating to get the desired consistency.
The solid portion left after the first filtering may be boiled again inside the drum for a second filtering and still again for a third filtering. The final residue makes excellent fertilizer both in wet and dry form and it is odourless.
The liquid glue thus prepared will remain in liquid form always but must be kept in a closed container. It has a permanent usage life. On wood this glue penetrates deep and dries slowly and if made into thick paste it is very strong but not water resistant. It has a pale yellow colour and no odour. As it does not solidify unexposed to air it can be packed, stored and marketed in cheap plastic sachets (like the milk sachets).
Ryan Foundation survival by Sea Water movement wants women in coastal fishing family settlements to prepare this common purpose glue and market it for consumer and industrial use. The glue is excellent for binding foliage briquettes for domestic cooking (Handout 103) and sun dried bricks for low cost housing (Handout 109).
APPENDIX 11: RYFO RENEWABLE FUEL RYFO HANDOUT 708
Cooking energy is an universal problem with rising scarcity of renewable energy and rising cost of non-renewable energy. With widespread deforestation the poor don't find even shrubs for their stone stove and walk miles away to collect twigs. Ryan Foundation solution to the problem is simple.
Take a common mud flower pot of about 15 cm top diameter and 20 cm height. Block the water outlet hole only in the big pot with clay, waste cloth or RYFO mortar. On the small pot make several holes, about 20, all around, as shown, each half cm in diameter.
Stuff the small pot with tailor's waste up to the brim and place it in the middle of the big pot (only cotton). Make one or two Knots in each cut bit and then they burn longer.
Fill automobile waste oil, castor oil or any unwanted non-edible mixed oil into the big pot. Fill to submerge the small pot leaving only one or two rows of holes on top, as air inlet and for oxygen supply. Pour the oil also on top of the tailor's waste in the small pot to soak downward.
Push the setting under the cook stove and set fire to the tailor's waste. It burns bright and high and throws much heat. The oil in the big pot keeps feeding the burner. Knots made in the cotton waste bits keep them burning longer.
In the size specified, the burning goes on for four to five hours for a woman to finish her day's cooking but not even quarter of the oil in the big pot is consumed.
For the next day's cooking more tailor's waste is stuffed in and waste oil is topped up in the big pot. Ryan Foundation uses this energy to boil sea water to evaporate and condense it into potable water.
Highly drought resistant castor grows wild in the tropics, including the semi deserts of Africa (this author has seen castor growing wild in certain parts of Somalia). When the seeds of castor are boiled and pressed they yield plenty of oil (49 percent by weight).
There are hundreds of other non-edible oil bearing nuts available all over the tropics which can be collected and pressed for oil.
RYFO briquettes and RYFO Oil fuel can solve the problem of rural cooking energy and prevent cutting of trees to a considerable extent. This is low technology to solve or reduce problems of high technology. More than that, it is a self-help technology using local raw materials and waste.
APPENDIX 12: MILK FISH RYFO HANDOUT 611
In coastal villages sea water should be taken about 30 m away from the shore by underground bamboo pipes (rigid PVC pipes or flexible garden hose pipes) into 2 to 3 m deep man-made ponds and, Chanos chanos and Calcarifer, should be introduce in the ponds. People can eat fresh fish, smoke and preserve them, make chicken feed, pig meal, fertilizers, gum (glue) etc. Halophytes may be grown around the ponds and thousands of jobs created based on them. The water may be taken from one pond to another in open cut canals. (This project is part of the SURVIVAL BY SEA WATER MOVEMENT launched and monitored by the Ryan Foundation, India).
Chanos chanos is known in English as "Milk Fish". In Tamil it is called "Paal Meen" or Paal Kendai and in Malayalam "Poomeen". It is ideal for rearing in backyard farms in rural homes in sea or saline water. It lives on decaying organic matter, breed in high seas and can be collected from backwater and estuaries. When tidal waves are brought into land and man-made sea-water canals, spawn and fry of milk fish come with the waves and form excellent nurseries and hatcheries.
One hundred square metre ponds, one metre in depth are excellent to rear milk-fish. The water temperature should be between 25 to 35 C and pH 6.0 to 9.0. Phyto and Zooplanktons form a major food item for milk fish. Part of old water must be replaced by new water every third day.
In a well managed pond, milk-fish grow to a weight of 750 g in about a year and the yield will be about 500 kg of fish in a one ha farm per year.
Usually, L. Calcarifer, commonly called "Betki fish", is introduced along with Chanos chanos as a measure of biological control of smaller weed fish. Betki is a voracious predator, multiplies fast and can be harvested along with milk-fish. Betki is edible. Like Tilapia, Milk fish and Betki can also be smoked and preserved. Oil can be extracted and chicken and fish feed can be made out of them. RYFO fish glue can also be made (Handout 501).
Ryan Foundation recommends promotion of Milk Fish in man-made sea water canals and ponds in coastal villages.
MULLET (Madavai in Tamil) can also be introduced along with Chanos chanos. Both are surface breathers and both thrive in inland brackish water as well.
APPENDIX 13: CULTIVATION BY SEA AND SEWAGE WATER MIX
Experiments conducted by the University of Arizona, the Ben Gurion University of Israel, the National Academy of Sciences, USA, Ryan Foundation International, the Marine and Salt Research Institute of the Government of India at Jamnagar and several other agencies in China, Philippine, Japan, Jakaratha and other countries have proved that hundreds and thousands of plants, trees, shrubs, weeds and algae can be grown using sea water or in sea water canals, ponds and lagoons and many other vegetation can be cultivated by mixing sea and sewage water.
Several saline and semi-saline soil plants can be introduced and cultivated for human, cattle, ecology and environment welfare.
The common sea shore plants and trees of the tropics are:-
Then, there are sea weeds which belong to a group of algae such as Gracilaria and Caulerpa. There are also sea weeds of a larger variety such as Cystoseria, Sargassam, turbinarin and red weed. All these are valuable sources of food in China and Japan where such foods are called Nori. Jellies, confectionery items, medical needs and photographic films are made out of some sea weeds. The well known food base cum industrial chemical called agar-agar, alginic acid, and Carrageenan (food colouring agent mass-produced now in the Philippines with UN aid) are all extracted from sea weeds. They are important reservoirs of mineral nutrients such as nitrogen and Phosphorus. Dried sea weeds produce high quality methane gas. Port Okha in Western India and the Gulf of Mannar in the South have plenty of these weeds to make agar-agar. Geidiella acerosa is also a variety seen in these areas which can be propagated and exploited.
There are other group of sea weeds such as Ulva lactuca, Ulva reticulata, Geldicella acerosa and Gracilaria edulis. The weed called Sargassum myriocystum is a common algae which grows like a small tree in great depths. Several uses for this algae have not still been established.
Not that all these sea weeds can be introduced and promoted in all sea coasts as they all require different climatic, ecological and ocean conditions. But certainly many of the all weather ones can be introduced and promoted and many of them, perhaps, will also take to sea water canals, ponds and parched lands (filled with sea water) such as the one in Ethiopia. This ought to be a new field of research for botanists and environmentalists.
Regarding those that are not really sea plants and trees, which are mentioned earlier in this paper, experiments have sufficiently proved that many of them grow by sea water cultivation and some of them grow well or even better when saline and potable water are mixed with a small quantity of potable water in the initial stages as in the case of pomegranate. The best results, however, are obtained when sea and sewerage water are mixed in the proportion three parts of sea water to one part of sewerage water according to some informal experiments and formal experiments done in Israel and by the Ryan Foundation in Africa.
A good proposition is to flush city or town sewerage water by sea water canals into parched fields.
Six species of salt resistant acacias which grow in sea water have been identified and described by the CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization) of Canberra, Australia. It is very necessary to popularize these six species in the coast line of countries to build up sea defense and along sea water canals and around sea-water ponds and lagoons to give habitation and home to birds, animals, crabs, turtles and mangroves and most important of all, to provide employment and food for the people. Among the Prosopis species five are very good for saline soils and seashores. They are, Prosopis juliflora, P. chilensis, P.tamarugo, P.cineraria and P.pallids. Among the hundreds of varieties of Bamboo species Bombusa vulgaris and Bombusa arundinacea may be tried on seashores and saline soils and these are identified and singled out by the Technology mission of the government of India.
Ryan Foundation will be happy to be in touch with agencies engaged in this field of research and in spreading and publishing the established research findings.
1. Marine algae has great potentials as livestock feed, fertilizer and raw materials for several industries. They are a rich source of numerous mineral and life saving medicines. The liquid sea water fertilizer recently researched and developed, is becoming popular in several countries. Some fresh algae, including Spriluna, Chlorella and Scenedesmus, rich in edible protein, are widely sold as health food in Western Countries and Japan.
2. In Benin people cultivate a bean called ABLAT which require very little water to grow. They first put some compost around the foot of the plant and it produces bean all round the year. If the atmosphere is water borne the plant grows quicker and healthier. With sea water vapours in the atmosphere ABLAT can be grown in dry and drought lands.
3. The Central Salt and Marine Chemical Research Institute at Bhavanagar, India, has been experimenting on the cultivation of Jojobe - an oil bearing plant in coastal sand dunes under semi-arid conditions in the West Coast of Gujarat and in Sub-humid regions of Ganjam district of Orissa. Experiments have established that Jojobe can be grown successfully in Coastal sand dunes and the oil obtained from the plant could be used as a lubricant, for making soaps and for other purposes.
4. ATRIPLEX, a halophyte grows excellently well in arid zones and saline soils and improves habitat of wild life and birds and serves as fodder for livestock and for reclaiming sandy soil. It grows wild in the salt steps of Eastern Asia, low lying salt plains of Australia, the Red Sea basin and the South American Pampas. It is easy to propagate annual, perennial herb and a salt bush.
5. In 1990 the Philippines ranked fourth among the world's producers of Red Sea-weed, exporting about US $ 48 million of dried sea weed and CAAGRENAN - a derivative from it, which is used as a binding agent in food products.
APPENDIX 15: SALICORNIA SOS 10 RYFO HANDOUT 723
Oil bearing species of salicornia collected from the salty coastline of the Americas have now been crossed with other highly drought and salt resistant species of salicornia. The improved new variety is presently growing well in the desert sands of the Middle East, particularly in the Gulf Coast of Saudi Arabia. The R & D by several cross and inter cross cultivation methods was done by the Environmental Research Laboratory (ERL) of the Arizona University of USA.
Salicornia SOS 10 grows well on desert sands watered by sea water or when planted along the sea shore like field fencing. They have vast potential as forage grains, oil seeds and raw material for rural industries and employment generation. Egypt, Kuwait, Mexico, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are now planting Salicornia SOS 10 on a commercial scale. It yields 25 m/ha of oil and estimates say that after taking into account harvest loses, a firm of about 1000 ha should yield about 3000 m of seeds. The seed contains 30 percent oil by weight and the oil is extracted by conventional methods - crushing by hand (pounding) expellers or cow driven grinders (chekku).
The oil which was tested by Archer Daniels Midland Co. proved to be an excellent vegetable oil for human consumption. It can be used in cosmetics, soaps and paints and as a cooking fuel. Excellent briquettes can be made out of the foliage of the plant. After the extraction of oil 65 percent of the biomass is left as cake of which 42 percent is protein. Thus, it makes good cattle feed. The residue is used in cook stoves.
ERL researchers found, paradoxically, that 65 to 70 percent of the salt can be removed by washing the residue in sea water making it edible by goats, sheep and cattle. The washed residue is used also as fertilizer for other plants away from the sea coast.
Maximum yields are obtained in hot climates if seeds are sown in the cool season of the region so as to reach maturity during the hot or very warm months. The crop needs about 100 days relatively cool weather to achieve vegetative growth. It is suitable both for small labour intensive cultivation and for highly mechanized large scale cultivation. Mature seeds fall and propagate the plant.
About 40 km north of the industrial city of Jubail on the Gulf coast at Ras-el-zawr private entrepreneurs have set up a salt water technology co. in 100,000 ha of land. Exploiting sea water for cultivation and human consumption is a much needed technology for the survival of humanity in our planet. The sea and the tree hold the key for human survival. Kudos to ERL.
APPENDIX 16: SAMPHIRE FOR SEA WATER RYFO HANDOUT 621
In torrid regions, trapped between sea and sun, growing crops with sea water is a long time dream of farmers. After several years of research on this plant, Samphire, the Environmental Research Laboratory (ERL) of the University of Arizona has succeeded in releasing a species of Samphire called Salicornia bigelovil Torr, rich in oil and protein which thrives in sea water. Samphire which is an halophyte is classified as mangrove and has a stout leafless steam and one may mistake it for a Cactus. The stem contains a large quantity and good quality of Caustic Soda and can be extracted by the RYFO method (Handout 45).
After crossing several species of Samphire the researchers of the University produced a giant variety which they named SOS-7 which grows to a height of 50 cms. in hot and very hot climates and in sandy soil.
SOS-7 produces 25 per cent oil, rich in edible linoleic acid, which compares well with Soybean oil. The residue after extracting the oil makes good cattle and chicken feed.
SOS-7 yields two tons of seeds per hectare, but more research is on to improve yield and quality. Experiments are currently on also in Egypt, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.
This is an useful addition to the halophytes listed by the Ryan Foundation for its Survival by Sea Water Movement.
APPENDIX 17: WATER HYACINTH FOR INCOME RYFO HANDOUT 725
(and for making briquettes)
It is estimated that in India over five lakh hectares of water holding areas have the fast multiplying aquatic weed, the water hyacinth. The weed reproduces itself vegetatively by means of slender horizontal runners called "Stolons". New Plant shoots appear in the stolons and within a fortnight the parent plant has several shoots which develop roots and leaves. Stolons grow in these new runners in 2 to 3 weeks.
The weed converts solar energy at the rate of 2 to 3 percent which is nearly 40 percent of the maximum conversion rate of solar energy, theoretically speaking. The weed contains 26 percent fibre. 26 percent crude protein, 17 percent ash, and 8 percent carbohydrate on a dry weight basis. Thus the weed is an excellent source for biogas production. Scientists have calculated that just one kilogram of well dried weed yields 174 litres of biogas containing 75 percent of methane.
As the fibre of the weed is similar to sugarcane bagasse it is used to manufacture paper and pulpboard and these were made to a fine quality standard by the CSIR Research Institute of the Government of India at Johart, Assam. The leaves can be used as a protein in human diet and in the diet of non ruminant animals. Due to high nitrogen and potassium content the weed serves as a fertilizer and soil binder and also as a mulching material. Villagers use the stolen to weave mats and baskets.
Ryan Foundation demonstrates to the village poor how fine briquettes for cookstoves can be made out of all parts of the weed, the roots included, along with other mixed foliage.
Thus, water hyacinth is not an environmental menace as many people mistake but an income generator, a substitute for wood for making certain types of paper.
APPENDIX 18: FOREST ISLANDS
One of the worst incidents of terrorism happened in Terai region of Uttar Pradesh, India On 1st August 1992 when 29 innocent villagers entered the forest to collect a wild edible fruit and were ruthlessly murdered in the puranpur forests of Pilbhit district. It was reported that the terrorists hiding in the forest there with arms and ammunitions were suspicious of anyone entering the forests and discovering their hiding places and therefore murdered the intruders.
Terrorists hiding in the dense forests and waging a guerrilla warfare in Malaysia, Korea, Mayanmar (Burma) and many other countries is common knowledge. The LTTE militants of Sri Lanka were also trained in their hiding places in the dense forests of India. Undoubtedly, terrorism and guerrilla warfare and coup threats are on the increase all over the world because of dense forests besides other reasons. Most of the drug producing plants are cultivated in dense forests and illicit (poisonous) alcohol is brewed behind bushes.
Nevertheless, we need more and more forests and trees and better ecology and environment and rain forests to save our planet. We also need more forest bushes to give habitat to birds and animals.
The solution to the problem is better and clever forest management free of guerrillas, terrorists, drugs and poachers and the following module for developing and managing forests may be considered.
The conventional stone-marking of forest boundaries or barbed wire methods have failed to produce results and in fact in many countries they have been counter productive. After spending billions annually Third World countries will be poorer by a few hundred thousand trees cut to make the uprights for barbed wire fencing.
Strictly speaking under the order of the day the social forestry projects of most part of the globe have no social changes, no social action and the resources are not being utilized for the welfare of the people, not for the community, but only to fill pockets of poachers and politicians who support them. They have no element of permanent resource creation.
In most of the social forestry projects in India the rich grow eucalyptus paying a pittance to the forest labourers. They sell the timber to paper and board factories and get richer. They even shoot the animals and sell the skin.
Forestry needs a radical change and therefore some unconventional and rationale methods have to be introduced. The Ryan Foundation module explained below is based on (or linked to) the "Survival by Sea Water" movement of the Foundation.
To make a beginning dense forests within a distance of 100 kms from the coastline in countries like Guinea. Somalia, India, Kampuchea, Malaysia or Mayanmar may be declared as Forests Islands.
100 m broad and 3 m deep man-made canals may be dug round the forests making the forests like Islands with lock (sluice) arrangement to regulate the flow of sea water into the land like the canal cutting across Dubai.
There shall be only two jetty on the circular canal one to enter into the Island forest and the other to exit.
Authorized country boats may ply in the canal to transport forest products, fish, sea water plants and plant and tree products.
Two, three or more speed boats, depending on the circumference of the canal, may guard to prevent unauthorized people entering in or going out.
Watch towers may be built on the banks of the canal and also in the islands and search lights provided.
These forest islands may be made permanent head quarters of army companies or battalions and the army may be given the responsibility of keeping law and order in the forests as their peace time operations.
Hundreds of trees have been identified to grow well in sea water by the Ryan Foundation in the book Plants and Tress that Generate Employment and several of them identified, explained and published in the book entitled "Saline Agriculture": Salt Tolerant Plants for Developing Countries" published by the National Academy Press. Washington DC in 1990. These trees may be planted on the banks of the ring canal. Several of them yield edible fruits, oil, dye, medicines, gum, nuts, fodder, fertilizers, chemicals etc. and generate employment.
The commercial planting and exploitation and replanting may be regulated by the army as part of their peace time operation. Army men and women will love to engage themselves in such useful and purposeful work during peace time.
On the outside of the ring canal the army may build their quarters and settlements, and habitation may spread from the periphery of the forests outward. This will develop new habitations, homes, villages and towns and prevent over congestion in already congested cities and towns and retard the growth of slums and squatter settlement in urban centres. Barren lands will become water sheds.
Sea water fish such as sardine and the milk fish (Chanos chanos) may be introduced into the canals and fish based industries such as chicken feed, cattle feed, organic fertilizers. Fish oil, fish gum etc. may be promoted based on appropriate rural technology, as advocated by Ryan Foundation.
The sand from the sea that comes into the canal may be manually lifted and shifted to fill low lying areas and this will provide employment to hundreds of women in each of the surrounding villages.
Small rails with open wagons may be provided up to a distance and hand drawn carts, donkey drawn trucks and pack horses employed from where the rails end.
With sand thus shifted pot holes and pits in the villages and towns may be filled; Low lying areas and sand mountains raised along the coast lines in countries like Guinea or Maldives for sea defense. Raising such sand mountains will cost much less than erection of tetrapods as now done in Maldives. Bombay and many coastal towns.
Administration of these forest islands may be entrusted also to the navy and airforce for peace time operations but should not be given to the forest department or civil administration for obvious reasons. Such Forest Islands should be declared by the UN all over the world as "Protected Zone". This is necessary as terrorists, drug peddlers, smugglers and guerrillas have global links. Accountability of the Administration of `Forest Islands' should be monitored directly by the UN.
If the forests enclosed by the canal is too vast, diagonal canals may also be dug across the forests for better transportation, communication and administration.
When work is in progress the animal, bird and plant life of the areas shall not be disturbed in any way but regulated and protected.
Wild animals may be confined inside pockets in the island surrounded by water so that forest workers can move about without fear of being attacked. By this arrangement forest islands will become natural zoos in natural settings. This will be in keeping with the man's responsibility to protect and safe guard wild life.
Nurseries and saw mills may be provided outside the island in which the locals may be employed.
Fish canning factories and foliage briquette factories may also be established.
Sea tortoise and crabs and seaweeds may be introduced in the canals and weed based industries to make products such as caagrenan may be promoted.
Medicinal herbs may be grown, gathered, processed and exported where possible.
The nuts may be collected and crushed for oil and that oil may be used for making soaps or lighting lamps.
Fruits may be collected dehydrated and sold in local and foreign markets.
There are indeed thousands of employment possibilities based on plants and trees that generate employment and thousands of employment possibilities to generate power, fuel and employment using sea water. For further information, see the booklet "Survival by Sea Water published by the RYAN Foundation in India which was declared official by the Dublin Statement on water for the Rio Summit. Also see the 3 vols on "Better like Technologies for the poor" by the Foundation.
Paper reproduced with courtesy from PEOPLE'S ACTION - Journal of the Council for Advancement of People's Action and Rural Technology, Vol.7, No.5, 1992. (Umbrella Organization for NGOs of India).
STATEMENT OF PRINCIPLES ON FORESTS
Taken from the booklet " A Plain Language Version of Agenda 21 and other Rio Agreements" which the Prime Minister of Norway Hon.HARLEM BRUNDTLAND calls, "The Essence of Earth Summit". Written by Michael Keating Published by The Centre for Our Common Future, Switzerland.
By the time of the June 1992 Earth Summit, countries had developed a series of principals for sustainable forest use. This, the first global consensus on forests, deals with the needs of people who want to protect forests for environmental and natural reasons and with the needs of people who use trees and other forest life for economic development. The Rio forest principles may form the basis of further negotiations towards a binding agreement.
The Rio Statement says that forests, with their complex ecological processes, are essential to economic development and the maintenance of all forms of life. They are the source of wood, food and medicine and are rich store houses of many biological products yet to be discovered. They act as reservoirs for water and for carbon, that would otherwise get into the atmosphere and act as a green house gas. Forests are home to many species of wildlife and, with their peaceful greenery and sense of history, fulfill human, cultural and spiritual needs.
Among the forestry principles :
All countries should take part in the greening of the world through forest planting and conservation.
Countries have the right to use forests for their social and economic development needs. Such use should be based on national policies consistent with sustainable development.
The sustainable use of forests will require sustainable patterns of production and consumption at a global level.
Forest should be managed to meet the social, economic, ecological, cultural and spiritual needs of present and future generations.
The profits from biotechnology products and genetic materials taken from forests should be shared, on mutually agreed terms, with countries where the forests are located.
Planted forests are environmentally sound sources of renewable energy and industrial raw materials. The use of wood for fuel is particularly important in developing countries. Such needs should be met through the sustainable use of forests and replanting. The plantations will provide employment and reduce the pressure to cut old growth forests.
National plans should protect unique examples of forest, including old forests and forests with cultural, spiritual, historical, religious and other values.
International financial support including some from the private sector, should be provided to developing nations to help protect their forests.
Countries need sustainable forestry plans based on environmental sound guidelines. This includes managing areas around forest in an ecologically sound manner.
Forestry plans should count both the economic and non-economic values of forests, and the environmental costs and benefits of harvesting or protecting forests. Policies that encourage forest degradation should be avoided.
The planning and implementation of national forest policies should involve a wide variety of people, including women, forest dwellers, indigenous people, industries, workers and non-governmental organizations.
Forest policies should support the identity, culture and rights of indigenous people and forest dwellers. Their knowledge of conservation and sustainable forest use should be respected and used in developing forestry programs. They should be offered forms of economic activity and land tenure that encourage sustainable forest use and provide them with an adequate livelihood and level of well-being.
Trade in forest products should be based on non-discriminatory rules, agreed on by nations. Unilateral measures should not be used to restrict or ban international trade in timber and other forest products.
The measure should encourage local processing and higher prices for processed products. Tariffs and other barriers to move for such goods should be reduced or removed.
There should be controls on pollutants, such as acidic fallout that harm forests.
"All countries should take part in the greening of the world" under common UN plan.
WORLD BANK FOREST POLICY
The Forests Policy Review for Russia has given the Bank an
opportunity to look at the issues needed to promote these priorities in the largest national forest resource in the world - a resource that covers some 22 percent of the world's forests.
Better targeting of the use of forest to reduce poverty.
Promoting more effective reconciliation of conservation and utilization in forest management.
Facilitating increased private investment in the sector through policy and market reform.
Moving beyond forestry to ensure that forest conservation issues are given due consideration in economy wide planning.
The RYAN FOUNDATION concept of a FOREST ISLAND
Transporting goods is an acute problem in many Third World countries, especially in rural parts. Diagram shows a multipurpose Oxcart which can be completely assembled by villagers with locally available raw materials. Bamboos, Casuarina or straight branches of village trees can be used to assemble the cart.
The total length of the cart may be about 3 metres and height about a metre. All the joints may be tied with fibre ropes or builder's binding wire or old (discarded) electric wires and nails and screws are not necessary. When constructed, the weight of the cart will be about 200 kgs and the cart can easily take a load of about 150 kgs.
The load bearing box (container) in the middle may either be made with bamboo or casuarina or with thick wooden planks or tin sheets. But the ideal will be to tie up a fibre netting as shown in RYFO HANDOUT No.68. The fibre rope may be first tied to make a net container and then fixed on to the frame of the cart.
The most important parts of the cart are the wheels and wheels may be made out of discarded automobile tyres (of private cars) as explained in RYFO Handout No.27. Scooter tyres may be used for donkey drawn carts.
These simple village made multipurpose carts can be drawn by any drought animal and by human beings as well. Women and children can drag, them, without difficulty and with rubber tyres it is easy to pull them off road and across the fields. Repairs and maintenance can be done by the owner himself without having to go to a workshop and spend money on replacements.
Vegetables and other household requirements can be taken in theses carts for door to door selling. Drawing adopted from GATE Dec. 1985.
APPENDIX 20: MOLE-HILL CATCHMENT PONDS - A CONCEPT RYFO HANDOUT 553
Picture shows a man-made mole hill raised out of the sea sand brought into the land by pipes to flush inland dry rivers and rivulets, streams, canals and nullas, for inland navigation, saline agriculture and desalination, as explained in Ryan Foundation booklet "Survival by Sea Water" (call for action) which was part of UN Secretariat official document for the UNCED Summit.
In the picture the sand heap is made against an existing natural mole hill forming a basin in-between. Such basins are excellent for creating rain water catchment areas and storing water for regulated supply during summer.
Broken clay bricks, stones and pebbles available nearby may be mixed to make the mole hill strong and firm and Vetriver, Cactus, Casuarina, Mopane, Acasia holisercea etc. may be planted initially to prevent land sliding. After 2 or 3 monsoon rains the salinity of the top soil will fall.
Now and again sea shells may be roasted, powdered and sprinkled on the mole hill for soil binding and to make the soil alkaline. The mole-hill may be raised to a height of 1000 feet and the basin that is formed may be dug to a depth of 50 feet. The earth (soil) removed by the digging may also be thrown to raise the mole hill. The area of the basin (catchment area) made by the mole hill may be one to two square meters. A sea water canal of 4 m width and 4 m depth may be dug all around the mole hill and the sand removed to make the canal may also be used to raise the mole hill. On the slopes of the inner side of the basin eucalyptus and Casuarina poles may be laid in parallel rows for soil consolidation and reinforcement.
PVC pipes, hose pipes or bamboo, may take the water down to homes in the surrounding areas and the rain water need not be treated. When rain water is thus stored and released fresh water agriculture and kitchen gardens will come up. Farm yard birds and animals may be kept and people will have good water to wash, keep clean and healthy. Most of the diseases in the world today are due to non-availability of clean water and hence water-borne diseases are common. With the availability of sufficient water, income generation activities may be started based on appropriate technology and raw materials available from plants, trees, birds and farm yard animals. Also, fresh water fish, the Pink Thilapia, in particular, may be introduced in the rain water pond, and the sea water fish commonly called "Milk fish" (Chanos chanos), in the sea water, and eaten. Out of the unwanted parts of the fish and dead and non-edible fish in the catch, chicken feed, fertilizers, table gum etc. may be made for urban markets.
This module of converting waste land into water sheds may be tried to meet demand for food, fish water and social forestry.
APPENDIX 21
APPENDIX 22: INCOME FROM FOLIAGE BRIQUETTES
Selling RYFO foliage briquettes, home made, hand pressed, using Cassava starch as binder in the Jalalaqsi refugee settlement in Somalia where the author lived and worked for the Ethiopian refugees. The briquettes are made out of dried leaves of the thorny shrub, Prosopis juliflora, which is found in abundance throughout Somalia and in all tropical countries. Most deserts have plenty of Prosopis juliflora of different species, including trees like the Babool.
Eucalyptus and water hyacinth are also found in large quantities in dry countries which are excellent for making RYFO briquettes - Many development projects are frustrated because local resources are not exploited.