Chad hopes ‘green charcoal' can save vanishing forests
N'DJAMENA: As they zigzagged from one machine to another in the searing African sun, the workers were covered in black soot. But the charcoal they were making is known as 'green', and backers hope it can save impoverished Chad from rampant deforestation. Chad, a vast, landlocked country of 19 million people perched at the crossroads of north and central Africa, is steadily turning to desert. It has lost more than 90 percent of its forest cover since the 1970s, hit by climate change and overexploitation of trees for household uses such as cooking, officials say. 'Green charcoal' aims to protect what forest is left.
Made from discarded plant waste such as millet and sesame stalks or palm fronds, it is meant to save trees from being chopped down for cooking. The product 'releases less emissions than traditional charcoal, it doesn't blacken your pots, it has high energy content and lasts up to three times longer than ordinary charcoal,' said Ousmane Alhadj Oumarou, technical director of the Raikina Association for Socioeconomic Development (Adser). 'Using one kilogram of green charcoal saves six kilograms of wood.'
The group has installed a production facility in Pont Belile, just north of the capital, N'Djamena. There, workers grind up burnt plant waste, then mix it with gum arabic, which helps it ignite, and clay, which makes it burn more slowly. The resulting black nuggets look like ordinary charcoal. Like the traditional kind, it emits CO2 when it burns - but less, said Souleymane Adam Adey, an ecologist at the University of N'Djamena. And 'it contributes to fighting deforestation, by ensuring the trees that aren't cut down continue to capture and store carbon,' he said.
NDJAMENA: A worker holds coal pebbles in his hand at Grace International's green coal production site in Ndjamena, Chad. - AFP
Refugee pressure
The conflict in neighboring Sudan, which is facing one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world, is adding to pressure on Chad, which has become home to more than 800,000 Sudanese refugees since 2023 - double the 400,000 it already hosted. 'Desertification has progressed in the regions that have been hosting Sudanese refugees for the past two years,' said Adser's director, 45-year-old businessman Ismael Hamid. Adser invested 200 million CFA francs (about $350,000) to launch the project, then won backing from the World Bank, which buys the charcoal for 750 CFA francs per kilogram. The United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR, distributes the charcoal in refugee camps in eastern Chad. But Hamid said he hoped to expand production and slash prices to 350 to 500 CFA francs per kilo to make 'green charcoal' available and affordable nationwide. — AFP
The plant currently produces seven to nine tons per day. 'If we want to meet the country's needs, we have to increase our output by at least a factor of 10,' said Hamid, calling for subsidies to support the budding sector. Environment Minister Hassan Bakhit Djamous told AFP the government was working on a policy to promote such projects. 'We need to bet on green charcoal as an energy source for the future of our country,' he said. — AFP
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Kuwait Times
6 hours ago
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Chad hopes ‘green charcoal' can save vanishing forests
N'DJAMENA: As they zigzagged from one machine to another in the searing African sun, the workers were covered in black soot. But the charcoal they were making is known as 'green', and backers hope it can save impoverished Chad from rampant deforestation. Chad, a vast, landlocked country of 19 million people perched at the crossroads of north and central Africa, is steadily turning to desert. It has lost more than 90 percent of its forest cover since the 1970s, hit by climate change and overexploitation of trees for household uses such as cooking, officials say. 'Green charcoal' aims to protect what forest is left. Made from discarded plant waste such as millet and sesame stalks or palm fronds, it is meant to save trees from being chopped down for cooking. The product 'releases less emissions than traditional charcoal, it doesn't blacken your pots, it has high energy content and lasts up to three times longer than ordinary charcoal,' said Ousmane Alhadj Oumarou, technical director of the Raikina Association for Socioeconomic Development (Adser). 'Using one kilogram of green charcoal saves six kilograms of wood.' The group has installed a production facility in Pont Belile, just north of the capital, N'Djamena. There, workers grind up burnt plant waste, then mix it with gum arabic, which helps it ignite, and clay, which makes it burn more slowly. The resulting black nuggets look like ordinary charcoal. Like the traditional kind, it emits CO2 when it burns - but less, said Souleymane Adam Adey, an ecologist at the University of N'Djamena. And 'it contributes to fighting deforestation, by ensuring the trees that aren't cut down continue to capture and store carbon,' he said. NDJAMENA: A worker holds coal pebbles in his hand at Grace International's green coal production site in Ndjamena, Chad. - AFP Refugee pressure The conflict in neighboring Sudan, which is facing one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world, is adding to pressure on Chad, which has become home to more than 800,000 Sudanese refugees since 2023 - double the 400,000 it already hosted. 'Desertification has progressed in the regions that have been hosting Sudanese refugees for the past two years,' said Adser's director, 45-year-old businessman Ismael Hamid. Adser invested 200 million CFA francs (about $350,000) to launch the project, then won backing from the World Bank, which buys the charcoal for 750 CFA francs per kilogram. The United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR, distributes the charcoal in refugee camps in eastern Chad. But Hamid said he hoped to expand production and slash prices to 350 to 500 CFA francs per kilo to make 'green charcoal' available and affordable nationwide. — AFP The plant currently produces seven to nine tons per day. 'If we want to meet the country's needs, we have to increase our output by at least a factor of 10,' said Hamid, calling for subsidies to support the budding sector. Environment Minister Hassan Bakhit Djamous told AFP the government was working on a policy to promote such projects. 'We need to bet on green charcoal as an energy source for the future of our country,' he said. — AFP
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And of the 18,000 hectares (44,500 acres) of forest in WAP-NP, almost a third has been ruined or severely degraded since 2012. 'The last two (or) three years we have seen an increase of chimpanzees rescued, simply because you have a lot of degradation outside where wild populations are,' sanctuary director Bala Amarasekaran, who founded the facility in 1995, told AFP. An aerial view of Guma Dam inside the Western Area Peninsula National Park in Freetown.--AFP photos Caretaker Hawa Kamara holds rescued chimpanzees Esther (left) and Rio (right) at the Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary in Freetown. A general view of a sign that reads "Please help us protect our forest and environment for you and us" at the Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary. A caretaker looks at a chimpanzee eating at the Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary. A chimpanzee climbs a tree at the Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary. Founder and director Bala Amarasekaran stands next to a sign with a quote from British primatologist Jane Goodall at the Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary. Founder and director Bala Amarasekaran (right) visits the chimpanzee enclosures with a caretaker during feeding time at the Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary. Founder and director Bala Amarasekaran greets a chimpanzee inside his enclosure. An aerial view of houses encroaching next to the Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary. An aerial view of houses encroaching next to the Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary. Freetown threatened The dangers of deforestation extend well beyond chimpanzees, however, and also threaten humans, particularly those in Freetown whose water supply is controlled by the Guma Dam, located inside WAP-NP. The enormous structure sits about six kilometres south of the chimpanzee sanctuary and is surrounded by a green, old-growth tropical rainforest. In the valley below the dam, urbanization is highly visible. The sprawl causes runoff which contains extra silt and sediment that collects in the dam's reservoir and creates sanitation issues, especially in the long rainy season. 'This settlement did not exist three years ago,' Maada Kpenge, managing director of the Guma Valley Water Company, told AFP. But 'every year a few houses get added to it' he said, stating that the squatting residents claim to own the land legitimately. 'Every year we lose thousands of hectares of the forest,' he said, adding that in 10 or 15 years' time there will be hardly any forest left. Without the trees to help regulate the water cycle and capture and retain water, the dam's level will additionally drop drastically. Under such circumstances, 'living in Freetown would be a challenge, almost impossible,' Kpenge said. The government faults opaque and corrupt land allocation practices carried out in the past, while highlighting new, stricter laws on land ownership that it says are helping. 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If someone is breaking the law, 'there should be penalties, there should be prosecution (but) that is not happening,' he said. The orphan chimps often arrive malnourished and disabled. Some additionally suffer from gunshot or machete wounds while others were caught by poachers then kept as pets in villages. Even after orphans such as Esther and Rio are rehabilitated, they must still spend the rest of their lives living on the sanctuary's dozens of hectares of protected wilderness, alongside some 120 other chimps. The apes have made Tacugama the country's 'number one ecotourism destination', Amarasekaran said. 'You cannot be boasting about having a world-class sanctuary and we are still failing to protect it,' he said. - AFP
