Although charcoal meets

Transcription

1 What is Driving the Charcoal Industry into a Dead End? LESSONS FROM EASTERN AFRICA S UNSUSTAINABLE CHARCOAL BUSINESS Although charcoal meets an overwhelming proportion of energy needs in Eastern Africa, its production, transportation and distribution remain a risky and highly inefficient undertaking. The industry is neglected by policy makers. Contradictory directives and inadequate legislation are to blame for this apparent confusion that characterizes the business in most Eastern African countries. With sound production, marketing and utilization policies, this sorry scenario can be a thing of the past. at a glance AT A GLANCE Charcoal meets 80 percent of urban households energy needs in Eastern Africa. But apart from Sudan, other countries are yet to formulate policies and enact laws that would engender its sustainable production and use A widespread preference of charcoal for fuel is partly explained by its affordability. It is the cheapest urban household cooking fuel. The production, transportation and marketing of charcoal creates the biggest number of jobs. With adequate availability of wood, it is possible for charcoal producers to earn between US$3,000 and 9,000 per year. A widespread availability of alternatives to wood-based charcoal in the form of bagasse, coffee husks, saw dust, coconut husks and shells. With inefficient production methods such as earth-mound kilns, only 10 percent of the wood used in charcoal production is actually converted into charcoal. The rest goes to waste. 03 Eastern and Central African Policy Brief No. 3, 2005

2 A SHORT GLIMPSE AT THE REGIONAL SITUATION Although charcoal is such a significant fuel to millions of households in Eastern Africa, it hardly attracts the attention of policy makers. Probably discouraged by this near-policy vacuum, big businesses have taken cue. To them, the charcoal business has remained a no-go zone. As a result, thousands, if not millions, of smallscale producers, transporters and distributors, most of whom cling to it out of a sheer need for survival, currently dominate it. Consequently, the business has failed to attract solid investments that are so necessary for research and development. Thus, the main production technique remains the traditional, earth-mound kiln, which results in massive wastage of standing wood stocks and has a direct link to the worsening state of the region s environment. WHY IS THIS? In most countries, no single ministry or department can be held responsible; Currently, a number of ministries agriculture, environment & natural resources, energy or the police - handle, in an uncoordinated manner, different aspects of the production, distribution and marketing of charcoal. As a result, no ministry or department can be held responsible for the official neglect the industry continues to experience. why? I N E F F I C I E N T P R O D U C T I O N P R O C E S S E S I N K E N Y A Inappropriate policies and legislation have created confusion; Besides issuing and policing incidental bans on charcoal production and trade, authorities in a number of Eastern African countries have little to say, in a positive manner, on how production and marketing ought to be organized. On their part, inappropriate policies have driven the industry underground. And to go around such insensitive policies, charcoal producers and traders have resorted to illegal payments to relevant government officials in order to produce charcoal and get their product to the market. 2 Eastern and Central African Policy Brief No. 3, 2005 G O O D P R O D U C T I O N P R O C E S S E S I N S U D A N H A S Y I E L D E D I N T O B E T T E R C H A R C O A L Q U A L I T Y A S S A M P L E D A B O V E

3 KENYA S CONTRADICTORY CHARCOAL POLICY More than a half of Kenya s 30 million people live on less than a dollar each day. Since economic options for these people are limited, they cling to any undertaking that might help them survive. To millions, and especially those living adjacent to the country s gazetted forests and others occupying drier areas, the production, transportation and distribution of charcoal come in handy. But in a country with few other alternatives, the law has continued to demonise charcoal. Over the last two decades, successive official decrees have issued bans on production and transportation of the fuel. However, the thousands of producers have always beaten these directives by either providing illegal payments to government agents charged with their policing or by using the night as cover for production and transportation. U N R E M E D I E D S I T U A T I O N A T U K A M B A N I, K E N Y A Availability of a ready and expanding urban market for charcoal assures millions living adjacent the country s gazetted forests a reliable source of cash necessary for meeting some of their basic needs why is this? Lack of a planned, sustainable production system While Sudan has a regulatory system of planting and harvesting trees for charcoal production, other Eastern African countries neither plant trees nor give land owners incentives to engage in wood production, and are merely pre-occupied in policing the exploitation of existing stocks of wood. Inefficient production leads to massive wastes Weak policies have hampered R&D that is key to the improvement of traditional kilns and to engendering efficient production. Producers are rarely able to manage the firing process well, which exacerbates a situation that is responsible for massive and rising environmental damage. With no standards, buyers and sellers continue to be swindled Most Eastern African countries lack standards to regulate quality, weight and the sizes of the charcoal entering the market. As a result, sellers and buyers along the distribution chain are swindled, as they are required to pay the same price for bags weighing between 30 and 45 kilograms. In addition, dust constitutes as much as 30 percent of the contents in many such bags. Lack of financial support for an illegal industry Like officialdom, financial institutions have also neglected the industry. This is linked to its semi-illegal status in many Eastern Africa countries, which makes potential supporters shy away from being identified with it. Poor marketing hampers regulation of the industry In addition to the absence of designated selling points, lack of guidelines on its marketing make the charcoal business difficulty to regulate. Although millions of dollars could be changing hands on a daily basis, the taxman is permanently locked out of these transactions as most are done on an underground basis. 3 Eastern and Central African Policy Brief No. 3, 2005

4 initiatives POLICY INITIATIVES Sudan: As a departure from the situation in the rest of the Eastern African countries, Sudan has a well-articulated charcoal policy and legislation. This has not only ensured professional and profitable management of the country s forests, but has also enabled sustainable production from plantations. Besides this, the country has ratified a programme that is now promoting the export of charcoal made from Prosopis chilensis, an invasive tree species. 4 Eastern and Central African Policy Brief No. 3, 2005 Kenya: The country has quite an impressive array of policy and legal instruments, which target the overall management of the environment and also attempt to tackle issues in the energy sector. For instance, both the Energy Policy Paper of 2004 and the Environmental Management and Coordination Act of 1999 promote not only the use of energy-saving devices but also the planting of trees. Specifically, the Energy Policy Paper seeks to promote the cultivation of fast-maturing tree species; gives 10-year tax holidays to producers, and asks the state to issue 20-year leases on its land for commercial production of wood. Kenya has also drafted a Forest Bill that, unfortunately, was taken back to parliament for debate after suffering some setbacks last year. However, though attractive on paper, these policies are rarely implemented owing to weak capacity in the relevant institutions and limited political will. Uganda: Approved by parliament in September 2002, Uganda s energy policy focuses on sustainable supply of energy to the poor with the aim of reducing poverty at the household level. The country has also enacted the National Environment Statute of 1995 which encourages cultivation of trees for fuel and caters for efficient utilization of biomass resources. However, the two policies are not clear enough to facilitate effective implementation. Tanzania: With its eyes on how to save its forests and address climate change which has significantly diminished the glaciers on Mt Kilimanjaro, Tanzania enacted the Forest policy paper in The Paper aims at fostering technologies that enhance efficiency in biomass conversion and wood fuel use. The country also seeks to support R&D in renewable energy and includes environmental concerns in the planning and implementation of energy projects. Ethiopia: Besides a 1994 proclamation on the conservation, development and utilization of forests, Ethiopia is yet to ratify its policy on charcoal. Eritrea: Eritrea s policy is still in its draft stages. Once complete, it will give the Ministry of Agriculture powers to regulate how private individuals utilise the country s forests. With the exception of Sudan, policies in other Eastern African countries have not been as specific in articulating what needs to be done to promote sustainable charcoal production. They have only made generalized statements on what governments would like done in the energy sector. These countries need to: ( Turn overleaf ) SUDAN UGANDA RWANDA BURUNDI ETHIOPIA KENYA TANZANIA

5 EXISTING action WHAT MUST BE DONE: i) Create the right climate for profitable and sustainable charcoal production and use through enacting sound policies and legislation. ii) Assign the roles of charcoal production, distribution and marketing to a single department or ministry and hold it accountable for all the issues affecting the industry. iii) Sensitize the public, through mass media and other fora to the contents of the charcoal policy and legislation. iv) Provide adequate finances and enough personnel for implementation of the policy and legislation and extend credit for those willing to engage in commercial tree farming. v) Develop and implement short and long term plans for massive tree plantings. vi) Facilitate research that would lead to the development of efficient and affordable kilns for the millions of smallscale charcoal producers. WHAT WILL HAPPEN IF NOTHING IS DONE: a) The continuation of unsustainable charcoal production might render vast tracts of forest land desolate in many Eastern African countries. This situation is already grim in Kenya where a mere 1.7 percent of the total land cover is currently under forests. A number of other countries in the region are in a similar situation, as many have not maintained the United Nations specification of 10 percent forest cover. b) The region will continue to lose environmental services offered by forests. Besides giving rise to severe soil erosion and land degradation, the impact of unsustainable charcoal burning and general forest destruction may be exacerbating climatic changes. These are already being felt on the roof top of Africa as Mt Kilimanjaro has lost much of its glaciers over the last 20 years. c) This will result in the eventual collapse of thousands of charcoal-based informal enterprises, a thing that is likely to worsen poverty and destitution. d) Charcoal consumers will be forced to depend more on non-renewable imported fossil fuels. C H A R C O A L - B A S E D I N F O R M A L E N T E R P R I S E S 5 Eastern and Central African Policy Brief No. 3, 2005

6 HOW THE DOCUMENT WAS PREPARED This document is the culmination of a series of national and region-wide workshops held between 2001 and 2005 in which participants discussed charcoal policy and law reforms. The workshops were funded by the Regional Land Management Unit (RELMA) that became part of the World Agroforestry The Source Centre (ICRAF) in The Process The first workshop on The Sustainable Product Commercial Production Fuel of Charcoal was held in Kenya in Its success gave RELMA the impetus to fund a broader regional workshop that brought together representatives from Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Zambia and to organize a field trip for regional policy makers to Sudan to observe the country s legalized charcoal production and marketing. This was followed by round table discussions in Nairobi in which an upbeat team of regional government representatives explored the possibilities of producing charcoal sustainably in their home countries. RELMA is a project of the East and Central African programe of ICRAF. World Agroforestry Centre East and Central Africa s Regional Land Management Unit (RELMA in ICRAF) ICRAF Building, Gigiri, P.O. Box Nairobi Tel: Fax: PARTNERS CONTACT NAMES 6 Eastern and Central African Policy Brief No. 3, : Forest Action Network Nairobi, Kenya 2: Department of Renewable Energy Ministry of Energy Kenya 3: Department of Energy Asmara, Eritrea 4: Sirinka Agricultural Research centre. Woldia, Addis Ababa 5: Ministry of Energy & Mineral Development Kampala, Uganda 6. Office of the Vice President - Environmental Division, Tanzanian Government, Dar es Salaam 7: ICRAF/RELMA East & Central Africa Region Chin Ong Principal Scientist/Hydrologist ICRAF s Research Division Tel co@cgiar.org Dr. Fridah Mugo Thuiya Enterprises PO Box 5200, Nairobi Tel thuiya@wananchi.com