Charcoal
Speaking at a stakeholders’ meeting in Kilosa District recently, the project manager of Sustainable Charcoal Project, Charles Leonard said the loss is equivalent to the budget estimates of one government ministry.
He said charcoal is the single most important source of affordable cooking energy in urban areas and it is estimated that about 90 percent of the population of Dar es Salaam uses charcoal as the source of energy.
About 28,000 bags of charcoal enter the commercial city every day, he added.
“Therefore, the demand for charcoal in Tanzania is very high, which makes the main driver of deforestation in the country,” he said.
Responding to existing challenges in the charcoal sector, the project manager said 1.5 ha of forests are cleared every single year due to uncontrolled harvest of the same in different places in the country.
As a result, he said, Tanzania Community Forest Conservation Network (Mjumita) and the Tanzania Forest Conservation Group (TFCG) decided to initiate the Sustainable Charcoal project so as to manage and protect the forests.
“This alarming situation has moved us to build interest and launch this project to protect our forests by facilitating communities to produce charcoal in a sustainable way where ecological sound harvesting principle and improved kiln technology are used to maximise rejuvenation of native trees,” he said.
He further said that the project would last for six years whereby several villages such as Msimba, Kisanga, Nyali, Dodoma, Isanga, Mikumi, Ulaya Mbuyuni and Ihombwe have already started to benefit over the past two years.
The Project Advocacy Officer from Tanzania Community Forest Conservation Network (Mjumita), Elida Fundi said the current system is not incentive enough for communities that willingly and sustainably manage their forests.
Most of charcoal royalty and fees are collected by district and national forest authorities instead of the villages where charcoal is produced and this result into continuous degradation of the environment, she explained.
She said that for sustainability harvesting of trees for charcoal making, fundamental changes in policy and regulatory framework is needed.
This would create a conducive environment that will encourage sustainable forest management on village land and result in a greater proportion of charcoal revenue reaching communities.
Giving testimony, Deusder Gabriel from Ihombwe village in Mikumi Ward, said since the establishment of the Sustainable Charcoal Project, the village has collected 31m/- from production of charcoal in a sustainable way.
Part of the money collected was used to construct a house for the village doctor and other was directed to pay expenses for management of their forests.
The manager for Tanzania Forest Service Agency (TFS) from Kilosa, John Olomi, said the agency commends participatory forest management because it was an effective and efficient way of managing the resource.
“While people are benefiting from sustainable charcoal production, they should make sure that the laws and regulations governing the forest resource management are adhered to.
The meeting was attended by 100 participants including Kilosa District councillors, TFS, community representatives as well as community members involved in sustainable charcoal production from eight villages.
The project is financed by Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC).
SOURCE:
THE GUARDIAN
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