The UN year of the forest in 2011 is being launched with a number of reports outlining a positive role for forestry industries and biomass in particular.
The UN’s flagship study, The State of the World’s Forests 2011, paints a healthy picture for energy crop growers, calling for greater industrial integration, increased productivity and the rapid adoption of technological advances.
Clean cookstoves as covered by National Public Radio in the United States. NPR/February 9th, 2011 By Martin Kaste Almost half the world still cooks its food with solid fuels, such as wood and charcoal. The results are deforestation and black carbon, which contributes to global warming. And smoke-related disease kills an estimated 1.6 million people
NPR: Engineers Hone Clean-Energy Stoves For The World Read More »
Via Climate Change News, a online publication of EESI (Environmental & Energy Study Institute) New Research Predicts Less Precipitation for East Africa as Global Temperatures Rise On March 4, a study published in Climate Dynamics predicted that droughts common in eastern Africa are likely to continue if global temperatures rise further. Researchers studied temperature, windspeed,
East Africa, droughts, and the impact on biomass availability Read More »
Published online at American for Energy Leadership Solving the Energy Poverty Problem On 02.28.11, In Opinion, By Natalie Relich. In the age of iPhones, Facebook, and Twitter, we have instant access to information and constant means of communication. It is difficult to imagine life without these luxuries, but they are just that, luxuries. For a
NEWS: Solving the Energy Poverty Problem Read More »
Decades ago, the mathenge tree (prosopis juriflora) was introduced to East Africa from South America to combat desertification. But the “law of unintended consequences” turned the experiment into a failure. Now residents of Baringo district in Kenya are finding new uses for this reviled tree species.
KENYA: Despised tree finds new life as woodfuel Read More »
The prices of kerosene, cooking gas, and electricity have gone up by 6, 20, and 18.5 per cent respectively. Experts say this leaves most households in Dar es Salaam (Tanzania) and other urban centres with little choice but to shift to charcoal.
TANZANIA: Economic recovery hurting energy poor; shift to charcoal from kerosene Read More »
Headline: Somali navy seizes vessel loaded with charcoal off Somali coast Source: (AHN) Reporter: Abdi Hajji Hussein Location: Mogadishu, Somalia Published: January 3, 2011 11:17 am EST The newly coalesced Somali navy has seized a vessel they said was illegal exporting charcoal from the nation, an official said Monday. In an interview with government-run Radio
NEWS: Somalia cracks down on charcoal exports to Arabian peninsula Read More »
BBC | 15 December 2010 By Ed Butler (Reporter, Business Daily, BBC World Service, Ethiopia) A controversial new farms policy has led to a political clampdown in a remote lowland region of Ethiopia, the BBC has been told. Opposition activists claim that a number of arrests and the killings of 10 local farmers are as
ETHIOPIA: Land grab fears for rural communities Read More »
Planted forests in the south central province of Phu Yen are being ravaged by charcoal and timber sellers. Due to a grave deriliction of duty on the part of the proper authorities, the trees’ planters say they have resorted to begging the wood prospectors to stop. On Wednesday, Thanh Nien witnessed charcoal makers proudly carrying
VIETNAM: Officials stand by as forest burned to charcoal Read More »
The Guardian, London, UK — 10 December, 2010 As ministers discuss the technicalities of carbon emissions at the Cancún climate change conference, 1.5 billion people in poorer countries still have no access to electricity. We need to address this injustice While the discussions on strategies to reduce global emissions rage on in Cancún, too many
CANCUN: “We must end energy apartheid” Read More »
A report by the Kenya Forest Services (KFS) and environmental lobby groups says that most parts of the country are likely to suffer desertification if measures to control indiscriminate cutting of trees are not taken.
“Water volume in at least eight rivers in the North Rift have drastically declined while springs that feed River Kerio and Sosiani River are on the verge of drying up,” said Mr John Chumo of Friends of Nandi Environmentalists, a local lobby group.
KENYA: Demand for food and fuel endangers forests Read More »
The world’s biggest corporations are rushing to grab and convert living plant matter – called “biomass” — into fuel, chemicals, and other profitable products. (…) “Plants, trees and forests are the new oil fields. They’re above the ground, and they’re easy to grab”
Agriculture: the new fuel for the global economy? Read More »
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