Charcoal

“Analysis of charcoal value chains general considerations”

Steve Sepp – Eco Consulting Group - Germany On behalf of

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Table of Content

Introduction............................................................................................................................................. 2 Importance of promoting the charcoal value chain ................................................................................ 3 Common issues characterizing the charcoal value chain ........................................................................ 3 Analyzing the charcoal value chain ......................................................................................................... 4 Building a roadmap for charcoal value chain upgrading ......................................................................... 7 Conclusions............................................................................................................................................ 10 References ............................................................................................................................................. 11

Introduction

Charcoal is a prime source of energy in most African country, as well as a driving force of their economies with estimated annual growth rates of around 3.7 percent [1]. Surprisingly enough, policy makers pay little attention to the ways in which charcoal is produced and sold – e.g. the question as to whether wood used for charcoal burning is harvested in a sustainable fashion. For lack of coherent policies, charcoal production, transportation and distribution remain, above all, informal and unregulated – rendering them inefficient and risky [2]. Besides, various stages of the charcoal supply chain impact in multiple ways on the economic, social, and environmental aspects of the MDG agenda. The observation that charcoal does not receive the policy attention it deserves may in part be explained with a crucial lack of baseline data, and...