Dar es Salaam consumes the equivalent of 16 olympic pools in charcoal every day. This figure is increasing daily as rural populations migrate to urban centers. At $350 million per year, charcoal is big business, too.
This great video produced by the World Bank last year (2010) lays out the issue in a way that is well-documented and visually compelling.
This short YouTube video is based on an interview I did in June with Henry Twinemasiko, the director of the REF schools in Rubaare, Uganda, (visit our project page) who appealed to us six months ago for help in bringing energy efficiency and renewable fuels to his school district. Henry is a tremendously inspiring and committed man and together we have a plan to cut the schools woodfuel consumption (and the associated costs), and generate revenue for the schools by converting the region’s agricultural waste into fuel briquettes for the school and the community. We have also began with our Continue reading
The charcoal industry has great potential to contribute to rural development because production utilizes locally available and potentially renewable resources.
The charcoal industry can generate employment and local income in both rural and urban areas.
— Dr. Emmanuel Chidumayo, Zambia.
“Many people believe that wood energy is a main driver for deforestation, though deforestation and forest degradation at a global level is rather a consequence of conversion of the forests for agricultural purposes such as large scale productions for pasture, oil palms, soy beans, or for subsistence production,” Florian Steierer, forestry officer of wood energy at the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations.
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.