Browsing: Re-usable charcoal

• Tanzania’s government has banned institutions from using charcoal and firewood for their energy needs.
• Tanzania has lost 16 percent of its forest cover to human-related activities.
• 85 percent of Tanzania’s energy needs are met with charcoal and firewood burning.

To curb the destruction of forests, Tanzania has set a deadline for its own institutions to stop using charcoal and firewood, an ambitious gesture for a country whose 85 percent of energy needs are met through the burning of charcoal and firewood.

As a result of this high dependence on forests for its energy needs, Tanzania’s forests are being depleted at a tremendous pace; 16 percent of forest cover has already been lost to date. At the current rate, Tanzania is losing over 640,429 hectares of forest per year.

The forest loss is mostly blamed on human activities related to unsustainable farming practices, development activities and to meet the huge energy …