The charcoal producing industry in Africa is rather a dirty business -
literally. They are still using the oldest of technologies.
We absolutely need them to upgrade to cleaner technologies - for everyone's
benefit. If you had been following along regarding the Black Carbon (BC)
discussion you will realize that a significant portion of Global climactic
pressure comes from Black Carbon.
See this NASA satellite image here, for instance:
http://visibleearth.nasa.gov/view_rec.php?id=19515 Read this also:
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/view.php?old=200112106304 Low-level ozone "smog" over the African country of Zambia equates to high
amounts of pollution throughout the burning season.
Smoke from charcoal production adds to the pollution from agricultural
burning, and covers certain areas with a continuous blanket of haze every
August and September and sometimes exceeded .90 parts per million (ppm)
during the daytime, "Equivalent to a 'Code Red Ozone Day' in U.S. cities.
There is a layer of even higher ozone on top of the surface smog. That
higher layer moves in from all over southern and central Africa, spinning
counterclockwise around a semi-permanent high-pressure system. Pollution
from fires over Zimbabwe, Angola, DR Congo, and Botswana is swept over the
Indian Ocean then "recycled" back over Zambia.
This trans-boundary ozone pollution moves from country to country over
Africa. Some of the pollutants also seep out to the eastern Atlantic as well
as the Indian Ocean.
High concentrations of ozone near ground level can be harmful to people,
animals, and plant life. Ozone can irritate your respiratory system,
aggravate asthma, and contribute to chronic lung diseases like emphysema and
bronchitis. Harmful ozone levels can also reduce the immune system's ability
to fight off bacterial infections in the respiratory system, and may cause
permanent lung damage.
Africans desperately need cleaner burning - hopefully charcoal producing [?]
- stoves. Encouraging the increased production of Charcoal using the same
technologies currently employed would only make a bad situation worse. We
should be developing programs that encourage the widespread use of these
cleaner burning and inexpensive TLUD stoves, for instance - so we can get
rid of the traditional Charcoal making industries and people can then use
dry biomass directly without having to convert biomass into charcoal first -
and then burn that charcoal for energy (as a cooking fuel) later - or put it
into the soil to improve soil productivity. If the conversion from biomass
to char can be done in one step using a clean technology that does not
produce significant smog and air pollution - while also allowing people to
cook their food - then it could be a win for everyone ~ especially if we can
show that Biochar is good for their soils and can result in significant new
biomass growth that could then be used as additional fuel.
See these two posts (for instance):
http://gorilla.cd/2007/12/15/charcoal-charcoal-everywhere-but-still-need-16540-for-refugee-fuel-wood/
"This is an update of the situation with the Internally
<http://gorilla.wildlifedirect.org/2007/12/12/urgent-appeal-20k-for-fuel-woo
d-for-refugees/> Displaced Persons (IDPs), the charcoal trade, and the
protection of the forest in Virunga National Park - Africa's oldest national
park. The charcoal trade is flourishing. Since early September there has
been an estimated 10-fold increase in charcoal production in the southern
sector of Virunga. This is because of a lack of control in the area as a
direct result of the fighting. Trucks are loaded to the hilt. Often the
vehicles simply cannot take the strain, and just tip over. The road from
Virunga to Goma is full of trucks with charcoal. .people carry the charcoal
out to Rwanda. It is quite literally a free-for-all due to the total
insecurity in the area. People wanting to make charcoal pay off the DR Congo
military or the rebels - whoever is controlling the track. An adult may pay
$0.40 for daily access and a child half of that. Then when the charcoal is
actually carried finally out of the forest, the burners pay $10 to whoever
is controlling the access. So business is booming. . people must be provided
with an alternative to chopping down the forest. With people making a
business out of charcoal, and the people who need fuel - Virunga National
Park is under attack."
http://gorilla.cd/2008/08/15/charcoal-production-1-threat-to-mountain-gorillas/
"Illegal charcoal production in Virunga National Park has become the #1
threat to the survival of the mountain gorilla. The mountain gorilla is in a
fight for its very existence - and time is short. Although disease, illegal
animal trade, and poaching for bushmeat are major threats to the survival of
mountain gorillas, Enemy #1 is the illegal charcoal trade. In the areas
around the mountain gorillas' home in Virunga National Park, there are as
many as 1000 people living per square mile. Just a few kilometers south sits
the booming town of Goma, where 700,000 people now live and where the
population is growing at an alarming rate of 15% per year. Nearly all of
these people cook and heat with illegal charcoal made from the forests of
the Virunga National Park - home to the world's last mountain gorillas.
(vervolg)
