With the protected areas of Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad Province linked to the piped gas network, there has been a drastic reduction in fuel wood consumption and consequently forest protection ,” says Hushang Seidali, managing director of the provincial Gas Company.
Nearly 80% of the province is covered by forests including 20% by the Zagros forest range. The province has 8% of the total country’s forests.
After the northern provinces, Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad has the highest per capita forest area, Mehr News agency reported.
However, with the onset of the cold season, many villagers living along the forest borders begin to chop forest wood for heating homes. This has led to large-scale destruction in the recent decades; therefore fuel distribution to villages became imperative to save the environment.
At present, from among 1,672 villages in the province, only 415 villages are connected to the piped gas network. This is while the entire nation’s gas transfer pipelines pass through the province’s mountains.
Supply Costs
“We are planning to supply gas to all the villages in the province, expect those in the highlands, by the end of the next calendar year (March 20, 2015),” he added.
“The provincial villages are rugged and mountainous; therefore the construction costs of the gas supply network for the villages are much higher compared with other villages in the country.”
Last winter, indiscriminate use of trees as fuel by villagers damaged the forests significantly. This issue can be solved by increasing gas supply to rural areas, Seidali said.
At present, 10 villages in the Dena protected area still are not connected to the distribution system. Dena is a part of the Zagros Mountains situated on the boundary of Isfahan, Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad and Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari provinces. As the area has rare, endangered plant and animal species, it is a valuable genetic resource; therefore providing clean fuel for the area’s villagers is a necessity to conserve the species.
Green Fuel
Burning wood is an environmental disaster. It can negatively affect human and animal health. Massive air pollution is produced worldwide by the annual burning of 3 billion metric tons of biomass such as wood, leaves, trees and grass. Biomass burning mainly used to create heat, represents the largest source of air pollution in many rural areas of the developed and developing world. Globally, biomass burning is estimated to produce 40 percent of the carbon dioxide, 32% of the carbon monoxide, 20% of the particulates, and 50% of the highly carcinogenic poly-aromatic hydrocarbons produced by all sources.
Wood burning is particularly dangerous since most of the particulates are smaller than 10 microns in size and are easily able to travel deep into the lungs. Numerous studies have noted that increasing levels of the particulates can significantly put human, animal and environment at risk.
