Note: Nearly all households in Malawi-almost 98 percent to be precise-cook using charcoal and firewood, which puts the country’s forest up in smoke. However the low uptake of sustainable alternatives has not prevented the Department of Forestry form confiscating the illegal forest produce and vehicles used to traffic it. The Guardian writes why this is the case.
The average person in sub-Saharan Africa consumes 0.69 cubic metres of charcoal per year. That’s 2.5 times more than the amount of wood fuel an average person consumes globally.
Producing charcoal involves burning wood under anaerobic conditions-when too much oxygen is supplied, the wood turns to arsh.
Typically, the production technique- earth kilns, used by smallholders cannot properly regulate the oxygen supply, leading to inefficiencies.
Simply put, they use more wood to produce little charcoal and emit more emissions compared to emerging carbonisation techniques.
As a result, charcoal production is one of the main drivers of savannah and forest degradation in sub-Saharan Africa.
Nevertheless, demand for charcoal is rising. This has led to governments attempting to formalise the sector. One such step has involved enabling investments from large scale companies. For example, in Ghana, the government leases out forest reserves to private companies to produce wood on plantations for conversion to charcoal.
Another step involves introducing punitive policies. For example, in Malawi, the State forbids smallholders from producing charcoal without permits, with noncompliance leading to fines and up to 10 years imprisonment.
I conducted a review of charcoal production and recent developments in sub-Saharan Africa. Its not clear that formalisation tackles challenges as the grassroots.
For the charcoal sector to transition towards sustainability, I argue for the adoption of integrated approaches that pay attention to the social needs of actors while tackling environmental concerns. This should preferably be done under the banner of ‘carbon-neutral charcoal’.
Efforts to formalise the sector
In the recent years, many countries, including Ghana and Malawi, have tried to formalise the charcoal sector. The reasons for doing so have varied, and have included the desire to increase revenue from charcoal to state governments through taxes, and reduce the perceived environmental impacts of charcoal production.
The consequences of these endeavors are contested. For example, in Ghana, in a bid to promote sustainable charcoal production, the government enabled foreign investors to acquire large tracts of fertile land for wood production.
The effect was that many smallholders have been displaced from their lands and means of production. The idea behind introducing taxes is also unclear.
For example, in Ghana the government imposed taxes on smallholder charcoal producers with no clear plan on how these taxes would lead to sanitising the charcoal sector or support the countryside’s development. Malawi has imposed outright bans on charcoal production without permits. This has removed a crucial safety net for smallholders, forcing them into poverty.
In addition to the fact that many interventions have failed to work, its also become clear that smallholders employ several strategies so subvert sanctions instituted by the governments.
These include using illegal means to transport charcoal and paying bribes to law enforcement agencies. Kenya is one country where this happens.
There is also ample evidence that prohibitions such as banning the production and transport of charcoal don’t work in many countries in the region because of weak institutions.
Given that the current path towards formalization is failing, what alternatives can governments adopt? Making the charcoal intensive is desirable.
But the current pathways chosen by various governments aren’t sustainable because they deprive many poor farmers of the means of their survival.
I identify a number of steps that could be taken. First, national governments need to recognise and improve traditional leaders’ current role in allocating trees for charcoal production in the countryside.
This approach has been in place for decades in countries, including Ghana. It has its flaws. For example, there is no proper accountability for hoe traditional leaders apply revenues raised from allocating wood resources.
But it has nevertheless helped sustain the population of valuable trees species in the savannah, including shea trees(Vetellaria paradoxa) and the African locust bean tree(Parkia biglobosa) in Ghana. Second governments need to invest in the countryside, creating awareness and facilitating green charcoal business and associations. This way smallholder could produce charcoal from sustainable woodlots that are harvest in rotation.
Efforts also need to be made to address some of the structural challenges along the charcoal community chain, including the skewed distribution of profits to traders and merchants.
The creation of cooperatives could help by strengthening the bargaining position of smallholder charcoal producers.
Finally, improving charcoal production at the grassroots level will allow government to tap into the growing demand for sustainable charcoal in international markets, while contributing to climate change mitigation.
Source: The Nation_March 4, 2021-The Guardian