Promoting environmentally friendly charcoal

Context

Around 50 per cent – more than 130 million hectares – of the forests in the Congo Basin lie in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).  The forests are of immense global importance as a natural carbon sink for mitigating the impact of climate change and for conserving species.

Yet an estimated 1.3 per cent of the forest is lost every year. One of the major contributors to deforestation is the production of charcoal for cooking. Most people in the country cook on charcoal or firewood. As the population continues to grow, around a quarter of the Congo Basin forest is expected to be cleared by 2050.

Objective

Environmentally friendly charcoal is produced and used in the provinces of South Kivu and Maniema.

Approach

The project helps improve the regulatory and economic frameworks in the two provinces to facilitate the transition to sustainable production and use in charcoal supply chains. Local cooperatives and other small producers of environmentally friendly charcoal stand to benefit, for example from local tax exemptions. The project also supports charcoal burners, encouraging them to use more efficient kilns and to procure local, sustainably sourced wood.

Over and above this, the project promotes improved cookstoves that consume significantly less charcoal and are locally made. Needy households benefit as they spend less on cooking fuel. Jobs are also being created in the process.

The project’s activities reduce the pressure on valuable forest cover in both provinces. Some of the activities are implemented by an external consulting firm.

Last update: August 2024