Illegal Charcoal

An estimated 83 % of people in the Congo Basin rely on charcoal and firewood for their cooking and energy needs. The trade is a major contributor to deforestation – a driver of climate change – and at the same time, those involved are vulnerable to changes in the climate.

The charcoal is mostly made inside the forest by small-scale producers. Large trees are cut down, the trunks, and medium and large branches are then stacked into a dome, which is covered with mud and soil. The mass is set on fire. The mud makes the wood “cook” or smolder instead of burning, creating charcoal.  In 48-72 hours the dome can be uncovered and the charcoal ready for the journey to market.

The producers are organized into local associations, which park officials claim are often controlled by Congolese military officials or mafias. The corrupt parties exact a tax on both the charcoal’s production and its transportation, based on a new report by the Enough Project. It highlights the severity of the problem and the heretofore oversight on the part of governments and global agencies to recognize the critical impact on the region’s forests.

Equatorial Africa, the very heart of great ape habitat, is hardest hit. Africa governments are losing at least $1.9bn a year from charcoal, to the benefit of criminals earning up to $9bn – three times the value of drug trade on the continent. “This number is likely to triple in the coming decades and we believe that the scale of logging in Africa alone would be equivalent in a few decades from now to what has been logged in the Amazon, just to sustain charcoal trade,” said Christian Hellemann, who led the UN Environment Programme assessment, said the scale of the illegal timber trade “has been totally underestimated and is now being regarded as very significant”, beyond concerns over deforestation, destruction of animal habitats.”