The charcoal conundrum: the good news is that the charcoal trade in Malawi is booming and thus supporting a livelihood for the urban poor; the bad news is that this is leading to massive environmental damage. Lameck Masina reports on initiatives to resolve the dilemma.(MALAWI)

African Business | February 1, 2009| | Copyright

The booming charcoal trade is damaging Malawi's reputation as an evergreen country. About 140,000t of charcoal are produced per year in Malawi but this means that the country loses about 50,000 hectares of indigenous forest every year--the highest deforestation rate in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region.

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The disappearance of forest cover in Malawi has also resulted in massive soil erosion and siltation in low-lying areas, leading to flooding that has been disrupting operations at the country's biggest ...

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