charcoal?

[Guest]

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[redstarr]

I've noticed several loans that involve selling charcoal.  What on earth are all these people selling the charcoal for?  I didn't even know where to begin googling to find out.  I can't fathom there being enough demand for charcoal to employ that many people in selling it.  It doesn't seem like they're exporting it.  Seems like they're selling it for local use.   Maybe people are heating their homes with it?  Or does elsewhere in the world use it that heavily for cooking? Is it used in some sort of industry for producing something else?  Does it have a use I haven't thought of?   

[NevadaStars]

Redstarr,  I have located the following link which should answer all of your questions.  Personally, I will not lend to a charcoal seller because of the impact to the forests (and gorillas).
http://www.relma.org/pdfs/Working%20paper%20no%20%2020%20Lessons%20from%20eastern%20Africa's%20%20charcoal%20trade.pdf

[NevadaStars]

And here are a couple of articles regarding the impact on the gorillas: 

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/08/070816-gorillas-congo_2.html
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/03/080325-gorillas-arrest.html

[robelliott21]

Charcoal and firewood production is one of the major causes of forest destruction and desertification that ultimately lead to water shortages, erosion, and human suffering.  I would strongly recommend against lending to people in the charcoal or firewood business.  At least in Peru, where I served in the Peace Corps, most of the charcoal was not even used by the poor but rather sold to roasted chicken restaurants for the upper-middle class.  While impoverished people do need fuel, improved wood-burning stoves (http://practicalaction.org/?id=s10_idp_stoves) and solar ovens (http://www.pathtofreedom.com/pathproject/offthegrid/solaroven.shtml) provide much more sustainable alternatives than charcoal.

[charity]

It is so interesting to hear about issues from the knowledge base of so many people.  I hadn't heard of charcoals impact on forests and gorillas.  I did know poor people in many places use it as their sole cooking fuel, which creates bad air quality and lots of respiratory problems for the people, especially the women, who are the ones cooking.  It is even worse if their cooking is done indoors.  For these reasons, groups like Engineers without Borders have worked on providing alternatives, such as solar cookers. 

[Milford]

Yeah, I don't help fund charcoal businesses either. I've seen a few "converting to solar power" loans, and I have to say, I'm a lot more positive towards that sort of thing. :P