A report by the Kenya Forest Services (KFS) and environmental lobby groups says that most parts of the country are likely to suffer desertification if measures to control indiscriminate cutting of trees are not taken.
“Water volume in at least eight rivers in the North Rift have drastically declined while springs that feed River Kerio and Sosiani River are on the verge of drying up,” said Mr John Chumo of Friends of Nandi Environmentalists, a local lobby group.
Briquette programs that deliver high quality sustainable, alternative solid biofuels exist in major cities in sub-Saharan Africa, but not nearly at the scale necessary to significantly alleviate pressure on the environment from wood and charcoal production. There is clearly lots of room for growth of these types of programs that can create jobs, empower women, and delivering environmental benefits to the larger community. Triple bottom line, anyone?
Charcoal producers in Kisarawe and Rufiji districts, (Coast Region of Tanzania) have a reason to smile after Barclays Bank Tanzania Limited earmarked more than 1.5bn Tanzanian Shillings (USD 1,002,875 / €768,746) to Dar es Salaam Charcoal Project (DCP) to train charcoal producers on how to cut down deforestation.
We published last month an interview with Dennis Tessier of ARTI-TZ, a Tanzania-based non-profit working to promote the manufacturing and marketing of briquettes made from the char produced in improved charcoal kilns. According to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the Tanzania’s forests are disappearing at a whopping rate of 4,200 square kilometers (1,620 sq. miles) annually. That’s about four times the size of New York City or half the size of Virunga National Park in the DRC. In our Q&A with Dennis he mentioned ARTI-Tanzania’s Waste to Wealth (W2W) project and we wanted to find out more. Below Continue reading
(WWF) Toliara, Madagascar — Two years of drought and late arrival of the rainy season in south western Madagascar have forced hundreds of farmers into charcoal producing which is devastating forests, according to WWF field staff at Tollara.
“Charcoal production in the South of Madagascar is particularly unsustainable as people cut the natural spiny forest, a unique ecosystem which exists nowhere else” says Bernardin Rasolonandrasana, Spiny Forest Eco-regional Leader for WWF in Toliara. “We are horrified to see the amount of charcoal currently coming out of those forests.”