- Title: Venezuela's trees suffer as firewood replaces scarce cooking gas
- Date: 29th August 2019
- Summary: MARACAY, VENEZUELA (RECENT - AUGUST 14, 2019) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF LOCAL RESIDENT JORGE ARQUILES CUTTING FIREWOOD VARIOUS OF ARQUILES GIVING FIREWOOD TO WIFE ARQUILES COLLECTING FIREWOOD (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) LOCAL RESIDENT, JORGE ARQUILES, SAYING: "Every day we have to cook with firewood because there is no other solution, the only solution is to cook with firewood. I go out and bring my pieces of firewood, because the situation is not very easy now. Now we have to do something to earn something because otherwise we can't survive." COOK POT ON STOVE LIT FIRE WATER BOILING ON STOVE (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) WIFE OF JORGE ARQUILES, ANDREA CARRASQUERO, SAYING: "I have to look for wood sticks to be able to cook but where do I get it from? Because it is raining a lot now. We are suffering for a lack of gas. We are still waiting for them to bring the gas. We have already waited for two weeks for gas but it has not arrived." GIRL NEXT TO COOKING STOVE LOCAL RESIDENT ENDY PEREZ SETTING UP MAKE-SHIFT STOVE PEREZ PLACING POT ON STOVE (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) LOCAL RESIDENT ENDY PEREZ, SAYING: "We came to this because there was no other option. We had to find a solution. We have to go out to look for firewood to cook because I have children. They are little but they are children. That's what I have to do. Keep pushing forward." VARIOUS OF PEREZ FANNING STOVE MARACAIBO, VENEZUELA (RECENT - AUGUST 1, 2019) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF MAN CARRYING WOOD ON BARREL (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) LOCAL RESIDENT JOSE MARTINEZ, SAYING: "This morning I made a trip and this is another one. Two trips. It's to cook for the boys. Their food." MARTINEZ PUSHING BARREL OF WOOD
- Embargoed: 12th September 2019 20:33
- Keywords: oil reserves firewood stove natural gas national park Maracay trees cooking fuel shortages
- Location: MARACAY AND MARACAIBO, VENEZUELA
- City: MARACAY AND MARACAIBO, VENEZUELA
- Country: Venezuela
- Topics: Government/Politics,Editors' Choice
- Reuters ID: LVA001AU9V8ZR
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Jorge Arquiles for years started his day by turning on the stove of his small house in the Venezuelan city of Maracay. These days, his breakfast routine begins with a search for firewood in a national park just behind his home.
Chronic shortages of natural gas in the country with the world's largest oil reserves now mean that cooking fuel is increasingly coming from trees.
The growing use of firewood has triggered alarm among activists who say discussions of environmental problems are often eclipsed by diatribes about runaway inflation, economic collapse and a protracted political stalemate.
Fires and home construction in the last 40 years have deforested about 10% of Henri Pittier Park, said Enrique Garcia, director of the ecological group Let's Plant.
In addition, he said, the collection of firewood in urban areas can cause respiratory problems from smoke, rising temperatures in cities and increased risk of landslides in poor communities where houses are often built on unsteady terrain.
Endy Perez, 39, is a homemaker, who lives at the edge of the 108,000 hectare (267,000 acre) Henri Pittier National Park. She also cooks with firewood to feed her children.
Wood stoves are now a common sight across Venezuela because of the shortage of gas. Tanks used to store and transport propane are in disrepair for lack of maintenance.
In some cases, people burn trash next to a tree to dry it out so the tree can be cut down and used for cooking fuel. Authorities are broadly ignoring legislation that prohibits cutting down trees without permits.
There is no official or private-collected data on the environmental impact of increased use of firewood. The Information Ministry did not reply to a request for comment.
Some cities have so little tree cover that those in search of firewood have to walk for miles.
(Production: Johnny Carvajal and Carlos Carrillo) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2019. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None