Virunga National Park in the DR Congo is home to the largest population of the critically endangered mountain gorillas. In a recent visit to New York, the park’s Chief Warden, Emmanuel De Merode, told us that the greatest threat to the survival of the gorillas was the persistent destruction of habitat at the hands of the charcoal producers that ring the park. Every year thousands of acres of forest are cut to produce the wood charcoal the local population depends on for cooking and heating.
In his most recent dispatch on the subject, Emmanuel writes:
Replacing Charcoal with Briquettes – The Moment of Truth
“We’ve reached a cross roads with the briquette programme. As you remember, we had pledged to set up 1,000 briquette businesses this year. 1000 village briquette businesses translates into the creation of 6000 employments and the substition of about 15% of charcoal consumption with a clean, sustainable and cheap source of domestic energy for poor households in Goma. We currently have over 3000 people making briquettes and the idea is to have 34,000 by the end of 2011.” (Read the whole story)
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