President Barack Obama announced Friday (July 2oth) that the US was banning the sale of charcoal from Somalia to third countries. The effort is intended to deprive the Somali-based, Al-Quaeda affiliate, Al-Shabaab, from important revenue collected from the export of Somali charcoal to countries in the Gulf region.
How Charcoal Fuels Irregular Armed Groups Read More »
This increasing demand for charcoal as an alternative source of fuel in homes and some industries in Nigeria has snowballed into a smuggling ring across national borders, further destroying the already diminishing number of trees in the country.
NEWS: Nigeria: Growing Danger of Charcoal Smuggling Read More »
Kenya and UNIDO launch 5-year biomass project. This is welcome news considering that over 68 percent of the population in Kenya use biomass for cooking, whilst Kenya’s Ministry of Energy estimates that up to 95 percent of the energy consumed in rural areas is in the form of fuel wood, agricultural residue and animal waste.
Joint UNIDO and Kenya biomass project to begin in June Read More »
Bagamoyo’s (Tanzania) rapid urbanization and population growth have made it harder for workers like Msilo to keep their businesses afloat and feed their families. Alongside rising electricity costs, the wood most people use for their household and business energy needs is becoming scarcer.
Thirteen women and eight men were instructed on how to produce fuel alternatives to charcoal, using agriculture and crop residues. These residues include rice and cashew husks, wood shavings, coconut husks and shells – all of which can be fashioned into briquettes, whose growing use addresses the shortage of charcoal and other wood-based fuels.
Tanzania: Championing Energy Solutions for Women Read More »
By 2050… smoke from cooking fires will release about 7 billion tonnes of carbon in the form of greenhouse gases in Africa – that’s about 6 per cent of the total expected greenhouses from the continent. — Rwanda New Times
NEWS: Why Energy Should Play a Crucial Role in Africa’s Development Read More »
In March, researchers from India and California published a study showing that certain clean cookstove models occasionally release a larger volume of certain pollutants than the traditional stoves they’re intended to replace.
Three American researchers released a randomized, controlled study Monday that is even more damaging to the clean cookstove movement.
NEWS: ‘Clean cookstoves’ draw support, but they may not improve indoor air quality Read More »
As Uganda’s woodfuel crisis deepens, slum-dwellers in the capital come up with creative solutions.
NEWS: Cooking with Garbage in Slums is not as bad as you think Read More »
Banning timber and charcoal production to protect the country’s remaining tree cover is well intentioned but completely impractical.
Uganda: When good intentions go bad Read More »
NEWS: Nature Kenya said in a press release on March 14 that forests are rapidly disappearing as a result of charcoal and firewood for salt manufacturing factories at the Coast despite a ban on firewood collection by the National Environment Management Authority and Kenya Forest Service in January.
Kenya: Mombasa Salt Firms Accused of Logging Read More »
“Hundreds of, mainly, men from around the Dzalanyama forest reserve in Malawi have been descending on it, camping deep inside it, felling trees for charcoal burning. Lizinet Josiah, 28, reckons that there are no culprits worse than those from her village.
She also knows that sustaining the forest would bring back the reliable rainfall. But she chooses to stun you, instead.
“As long as the charcoal alleviates our poverty and gives us something with which to buy food, the forest can go,” she says.”
“It’s all because of poverty. We want to have food but we don’t have money to buy the food or fertiliser to boost our food yields. We get something from the charcoal from the forest. We buy food and top up what we get under the farm income subsidy programme. What we get is little and this season was worse.”
NEWS: When ending poverty outweighs sustaining environment Read More »
We anticipate that this news will have important implications for the clean cookstove and efficient charcoal production industry in the developing world. This item comes to us via EESI. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced the formation of the Climate and Clean Air Coalition to Reduce Short-Lived Climate Pollutants, a coalition of nations to curb
NEWS: United States Creates New Climate Change Coalition Read More »
According to the Uganda National Environment Management Authority, pressure on land, water, forest and biological resources has dramatically increased to meet the needs of a growing population, leading to a loss of 76 percent of the country’s forest cover.
Geoffrey Oryema, the district leader of Nwoya, said poverty and lack of a meaningful livelihood source were the driving factors for environmental destruction.
“What do you expect somebody in the village without money to pay for his needs such as soap, salt, medicine and food to do?” Oryema said. “People are struggling to find alternatives to survive.”
NEWS: Uganda: Charcoal Boon is a Bust for Forests Read More »
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