A recent paper calls for immediate policy intervention around the Congo’s woodfuel demand.
Published in Cifor’s brief, it says, “The Congolese government needs to immediately improve management of the sector, in collaboration with stakeholders. The national Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) programme creates momentum for this.”
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
Today we begin posting the first of a dozen paper’s presented in June at a symposium in Arusha, Tanzania, on Sustainable Charcoal. The event, co-organized by The Charcoal Project, heralded the launch of a year-long initiative that will culminate in an International Conference on Charcoal and Solid Biomass in 2012.
Today’s topic focuses on the absence of reliable data on woodfuel and charcoal use from a national and global perspective.
Hot Tip: this is sure to be a top-shelf priority at next year’s conference!
Sustainable forestry practices that provide timber for the building trades can help mitigate the emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), a new study found.
One reason is younger trees absorb more CO2 from the atmosphere than mature trees. Another is that cutting trees after their CO2 absorption rates taper provides building materials that can be used instead of steel and concrete, which are created in processes that emit large quantities of CO2.
“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.