Trees for Africa
Yes, Africa is vast, and yes, the condition of the continent’s forest ecosystems can not be assessed without looking at its compiling nations as individual states. That said, a surprising number of links today from around the great interweb about forestry in Africa.
1) Wangari Maathai, noble laureate, interviewed by the HuffPo.
After witnessing the destruction of the forest in her native Kenya, Maathai started a forest conservation movement. In the process she went to prison, nearly died, toppled a dictator, transformed how African women saw themselves, and won a Nobel Prize
“I can’t live without the green trees, and nor can you. I’m humbled by the understanding that they could get along without me, though! They sustain us, not the other way round. Wedon’t really know where we came from, where we are going, and what the purpose of all this is. But we can look at the trees and the animals and each other, and realize we are part of a web we can’t really control.”
2) Charcoal production in Tanzania
No doubt you’ve heard – charcoal production is both essential and destructive to nations that depend on it for their livelihood. From the BBC Focus on Africa Magazine, a report that looks at the relationship between charcoal, climate change and poverty in Tanzania. The article argues that instead of removing trees for coal production, African nations should aim to reap the economic benefits of hosting significant carbon sinks in world which increasingly relies on cap and trade initiatives to curtail global emissions.
“To get an idea of the value of the sink, the removal of nearly 5 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere by intact tropical forests should be valued at around $25 billion a year. This is a compelling argument for conserving tropical forests.”
3) Liberia rejects proposal to conserve forests in favor of jobs.
According to the blog Estyonage, Liberia recently recently rejected an offer for a cash settlement from western partners to preserve their largely untouched Upper Guinean Rainforest as a carbon sink, instead opting to ratify millions of dollars worth of forest contracts to create jobs for the recovering post-war state.
(Forest preservation) is valuable in a way that is difficult to sometimes rationalize in a country with an unemployment rate of 85%, and a desperate need for jobs: telling rural workers that they cannot have a job because of a global crisis involving a substance in the air does not translate.
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Bleah. I heard from a friend of mine that there are estimates that by mid-century (or sooner) Uganda will be almost entirely deforested for the sake of charcoal production. I haven’t got any links about it for you, but the person who told me about it lives there… What a nightmare.
It’s a difficult balance. On the one hand, charcoal plays an important role in both the local economy and as valuable fuel source that puts food on the table. I’ve seen alternative high efficiency wood stoves distributed by NGO’s, but for whatever reason they never seem to catch on. People need fuel, and charcoal is portable, affordable fuel.
On the other hand, deforestation exasperates the impacts of climate change, leads to soil degradation, which impacts land fertility, and ultimately creates inhospitable living conditions.
Ultimately nation states will have to decide on a forest management policy that balances poverty alleviation with economic stability. Tough decisions to be sure.