A growing desire to explore non-CO2, GHG-emission-busting options opens the door for delivering efficient technologies and renewable fuels to fast growing parts of Africa and the world that are hungry for energy.
This should be sweet music to the ears of The Charcoal Project supporters who believe wood energy can be compatible with environmental conservation, GHG emissions reduction, and a source of renewable energy for low-carbon economic growth.
Nigeria has lost over N1 billion (USD 6,156,880) (Euro 4,629,360) to illegal export of charcoal and logs from states in the South West and North Central to the Middle East and Europe in the last four years.
An investigation by Daily Trust revealed that charcoal and wood export were the major factors responsible for the massive deforestation in the country.
The illegal export is booming despite the existence of federal laws that prohibits the export of logs from Nigeria.
A partnership among African nations and communities, the International Network for Bamboo and Rattan (INBAR) and China are working to substitute bamboo charcoal and firewood for forest wood on which 80 percent of the rural population in sub-Saharan Africa depends for its fuel needs.
A number of new scientific studies have been released examining whether and how forests, forest management practices, forest products, and bioenergy from forests either contribute to or help mitigate climate change through carbon sequestration and emissions.
One report states that “growing more forests and keeping forests as forests are only part of the solution, because focusing solely on the sequestration benefits of the forests misses the important (and substantial) carbon storage and substitution GHG benefits of harvested forest products, as well as other benefits of active forest management.”