Chad charcoal ban enflames public

[bijou]

A ban on the use of charcoal in Chad is making life hard for people already struggling with high food prices.

Families are being forced to burn furniture, cow dung, rubbish and roots of plants in order to cook.

Since the clampdown was announced - officially in order to help the environment - charcoal has become almost impossible to find.

"I'm using wild products which I've harvested, such as palm fruits," said Nangali Helene, who lives in the capital N'Djamena.

  We understand the need to protect the environment but we find it bizarre that the measures are so brutal and so sudden

Marie Larlem
Human rights activist

"But they make us ill - they don't burn properly and they give off a horrid smoke and smell. Last night we started burning the beams from the roof of our outhouse."

The price of a small bundle of dead wood has shot up from a few hundred CFA francs to 5,000F CFA ($12; £8).

Feelings are running high in the city, with the main opposition coalition organising a peaceful mass action over the next few days.


"We want people to bang on their empty cooking pots every morning to show solidarity for one another," said Saleh Kebzabo, from the Coalition of Parties for the Defence of the Constitution.

For the moment, street demonstrations are out of the question - a planned rally by women was called off last week when they were denied permission. 
...

The government says the ban is to deal with an "extraordinary" threat of desertification in Chad, which straddles the Sahel, the semi-arid region bordering the Sahara.

At the forefront of climate change, the environment ministry says more than 60% of Chad's natural tree cover has been lost due to indiscriminate cutting of trees for charcoal.

"Chadians must be aware of this problem," said Environment Minister Ali Souleiman Dabye.

"If we don't do something soon, we will wake up one day and there will be no trees. Then what will people burn?"

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It's for the environment so don't expect the greens to have anything helpful to offer the people of Chad.

[DumbAss Tanker]

OK, I see the connection between desertification and the charcoal, and that the desertification could ultimately make the whole place totally uninhabitable instead of just almost-uninhabitable, but I don't get how selling wood is still okay if that's the rationale for the charcoal ban.

 

[thundley4]

It's kind of like us going from a gas only car to a gas-electric hybrid. Sure the car isn't putting out as much in emissions, but the power plants that supply electricity are putting out more. You can feel good about lowering your personal emissions and complain about the power companies polluting too much.