‘Firewood cooking, and life expectancy’: A reply

This refers to the article “firewood cooking and its effects on human health” written by Professor Illeperuma, published in The island of 17 June. In it, the Professor says that I have stated in Parliament that using firewood instead of LG gas would increase a person’s life expectancy. He further says that “according to Weerasekara the life expectancy of women living in countries that use firewood for cooking is far higher than that of the people in developed countries who use new and clean energy for their cooking”.

With due respect to Professor illeperuma, I wish to mention that I have NEVER said (in Parliament) that using firewood would increase the life span, or, the life expectancy of women in firewood cooking countries is far higher than that of people in developed countries.

I request the Professor to listen to my full speech in Parliament. (Parliament website, 7th June 2022) and clear any doubts in that regard. One newspaper carried the same wrong message but immediately corrected it a day after by publishing my full statement. Maybe, the Professor was misled by the said newspaper and the mud-slinging campaign against me in social media that followed.

In gist, what I have emphasised was, since people tend to use more firewood today in view of the scarcity of gas and if the government doesn’t get involved to manage it properly at least now, it would lead to health hazards, environmental impact, etc. Hence it will require a national level intervention to relieve the adverse effects on health, on food security, living standards and educate about the inefficient burning of biomass, etc.

My recommendation was to establish a special unit under Renewable Energy Authority of the Power and Energy Ministry with experts in that field.

My entire speech was based on an article written by Engineer R.M Aamarasekara, who is the recipient of the Presidential Award for Sustainable Energy and a nominee for the World Clean Energy award in 2007. He has been an Advisor to the World Bank on International Bio mass a few years ago. I tabled his above article, titled “Is it possible without firewood?” and all the statistics I have mentioned in Parliament were the world bank data quoted by R.M. Amarasekara.

We see on television how people are suffering in gas and fuel queues. Unfortunately, hardly do we see any alternatives to gas being promoted at least as a temporary measure. How to make an efficient firewood or a bio gas stove, etc. It is time that we get rid of this negative approach. Our politicians and the relevant officers are more inclined to commercial type of energy, but it’s a pity that not enough attention is given to firewood.

We use about 12 million tons of firewood per year. 46% of Sri Lanka’s total energy supply is from bio mass. Over 70% of the total population relies on biomass energy for cooking and industrial needs, placing biomass as a crucial factor in the economy of Sri Lanka. it is not a commercial fuel in Sri Lanka, and unlike fossil fuel, it will never be exhausted if sustainably used.

Hence it is the firewood which doesn’t get enough attention from the government and which the people fetch on their own without being a burden on the government that contribute immensely to the lifestyle and the livelihood of the rural population and to sustain local industries. Thus, the use of biomass has become a crucial factor for the Sovereignty, Energy requirement, Food security, etc in Sri Lanka.

There are advertisements in media discouraging the use of firewood or improved wood stoves as primitive, backward and dangerous as compared to commercial fuel, which also pollutes and contributes to climate change, and cause environmental impact.

The World Bank study has indicated that the life expectancy in rich developed countries, where they use modern clean energy, is 80-85 years. In our country, the majority of women, approximately 70%, use firewood for cooking and as per World Bank data, women in Sri Lanka enjoy a high life expectancy of 80.3 years. It means that firewood has not hindered women from having a long lifespan in Sri Lanka.

However, Prof. Illeperuma has concluded his article by saying what is needed is not to stop using firewood but to use it safely to avoid adverse health effects and also get educated on the proper use of firewood. Being a one-time sailor, I know only naval warfare, but despite my poor knowledge of biomass energy compared to the professor, this is the same message I wanted to highlight in Parliament.

Prof. Illeperuma says that the controversial statement about the ‘life expectancy’ is far from the truth and contradicts all scientific findings.

I think it’s prudent to mention that my mother mostly used firewood and she lived a healthy life till she passed away at the age of 92 years. My grandmother used ONLY firewood for cooking and she died at the age of 98 years without any health problems.

Prof. Illepreuma, who is an expert on biomass and a researcher, is requested to find out how our ancestors lived a healthy, strong, and long life for thousands of years without using today’s much- sought-after blue and yellow cylinders of LPG!!

Rear Admiral (Dr.) Sarath Weerasekera