[Stoves] [biochar] Re: Haiti document of comments

Crispin Pemberton-Pigott crispinpigott at outlook.com
Sat May 27 16:47:26 CDT 2017


Dear Ron

How would you assure a funder that the charcoal so produced would not enter the charcoal fuel market?

What assurance can you provide that making char and not using it as fuel, would not increase the cutting of trees for the current need for cooking energy?

What discount for increased tree production would be made as the 'benefit of CO2' added to the atmosphere? Emitted CO2 increases the mass of fuel available, quite a lot. Do you envision charcoal burning stoves being credited for the additional CO2 they make available?

The area of fores‎t cover on the planet has recently been updated and upgraded adding a new area about equal to 3/4 of Australia. That is new forest cover particularly in dry lands which are greening rapidly. If wood stoves replaced charcoal stoves would that growth continue to expand or stabilise?

Will people growing fuel wood have to pay carbon dioxide emitters for the main input they require to succeed? If the CO2 concentration were to drop all C3 and C4 plants would grow more slowly and use more water per kg of biomass. Who's going to pay for that loss?

There's no free lunch.
Crispin

‎
Crispin and cc list and Roland:

You somehow below left out of your analysis the twenty-year history on this (a stove) list re charcoal-making stoves.   Surprisingly, there are some who argue that such stoves should not be given credit for the char when establishing their efficiency ratings.

There are some (like myself) who believe that there is a serious climate crisis demanding that stove-produced char be reserved for carbon dioxide removal (CDR) purposes.   Funding (which need not be large due to soil benefits)  should be from those (like myself) who put that excess carbon there.  The developed countries should pay for atmospheric carbon removal (based on the “polluter pay” principal) - with large benefits to both forests and farmlands.  I personally see no better way for CDR than biochar;  stove users are a most logical first-using group - to prove the soil benefits.

Ron


On May 27, 2017, at 10:42 AM, Crispin Pemberton-Pigott <crispinpigott at outlook.com<mailto:crispinpigott at outlook.com>> wrote:

Dear Paul and Roland

>Charcoal is a billion $ business and only 20% of the end price goes to the producer, who usually apply very primitive methods. 80 % is transport, bribes, intermediates etc. And there is nothing (tax) for the concerning state budget.
The principal reason for this situation is that:

Charcoal making is often illegal so the government cannot tax it.
It is kept illegal by those involved in the trade making a lot of noise about how bad it is and how destructive it is. It suits them to keep it illegal to block legitimate competition.
People cannot use more modern methods of production without being formalised as a business, which is illegal.
The bribes are taken by those who keep the business illegal to line their own pockets.
When charcoal making is legalised and supported by training and technology transfer it becomes commercially successful, the wanton destruction of the resource by outsiders is blocked, local jobs are created, local revenue is generated for the community, mafias are cut out of the equation, productivity rises, quality can be assured, long term management of forestry reserves is encouraged and defended by the local community.

Until those wishing to ‘save the forest’ are willing to address the fundamental reasons why the system is so inefficient and poorly managed, there is little hope. Banning charcoal production obviously doesn’t work – it just creates more opportunities for corruption and overnight theft of a community’s resources.

Good examples of proper management of forest resources can be found in Canada, Haiti, Chad, South Africa, Botswana and Rwanda. I am sure there are others. Of those named perhaps Chad has the most interesting story and Rwanda has the most success.

Best regards
Crispin

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