Policy discussions around forests and climate change frequently refer to charcoal production as one of the main culprits of deforestation and forest carbon emissions. This is explicitly articulated in the Tanzanian Draft National Strategy for Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) published in January 2011. Future “business as usual” scenarios predict a worsening of the situation.
Energy Poverty
REDD and the Law of Unintended Consequences
Climate change is likely to adversely affect the poorest people in the developing world. But solutions like REDD could end up hurting them as well.
The journey to sustainable solid biomass fuel production & consumption begins June 15th
On June 15th, representatives from new energy companies, climate finance, governments, development agencies, multi-lateral banks, and NGOs will meet in Arusha, Tanzania, to begin discussions on a blueprint that will make woodfuels, charcoal, and other solid biomass fuels a truly renewable energy choice for developing countries.
Of Pretty Women, the cleanness of clean cookstoves, and the sysiphian pursuit of financial promises
When it comes to “clean cookstoves,” to paraphrase a former US president, “it depends what your definition of the word “clean” is…
Unsustainable woodfuel consumption and public health
Researchers warn that East African plants that could cure malaria could disappear before scientists have a chance to study them.
A new book by scientists at the World Agroforestry Centre, “Common Antimalarial Trees and Shrubs of East Africa,” identifies 22 tree and shrub species that traditional healers in East Africa use to fight the disease.
But, the researchers say, they are being cut down for cooking fuel and other uses and could disappear before scientists have a chance to study them.