First the good news: Jeffrey Sachs Charts the Way Forward for MDGs Ahead of UN Summit World-renowned economist calls on leaders to arrive at the New York meeting next month “with the agreed plans, partnerships, and financing to accelerate our progress.” Professor Jeffrey Sachs has outlined eight “major gaps” which need to be overcome if the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are to be achieved. These unmet objectives are in smallholder agriculture, education, water and sanitation, health, climate financing, empowering girls and women, infrastructure, and strategies and goals at the local level. His comments come ahead of the MDG summit, taking Continue reading
Africa
TANZANIA: Bank dishes out 1.5bn TzS for training of charcoal producers
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.
Tanzania: Charcoal-making in five easy pieces
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
Madagascar: Drought forces farmers into charcoal devastation
(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.”
Namibia: Clean electricity from invasive trees?
(AlertNet) WINDHOEK, Namibia – The country’s first bush-to-energy plant is under construction north of Otjiwarongo and expected to open in September.