The world’s established forests remove 2.4 billion tonnes of carbon per year from the atmosphere — equivalent to one third of current annual fossil fuel emissions — according to new research published in the journal Science.
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Sustainable charcoal production in Africa can protect ecosystems, provide jobs.
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.
The Road to Sustainable Charcoal — What world figures tell us and not.
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!
Can growing trees for fuel actually cut down CO2 emissions?
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.
NEWS: The case for combining water treatment & clean cookstoves
From WASHupdate: Combined Household Water Treatment and Indoor Air Pollution Projects in Urban Mambanda, Cameroon and Rural Nyanza, Kenya, 2011– WHO.
The positive experience from these two projects concerning the apparently clear benefits of delivering household water treatment and household energy interventions in an integrated way has important implications for future programs. Specifically, the key strategic question is whether integrated delivery should be the norm, rather than, as at present, the exception and only seen in a few innovative projects.