Deforested areas are abundant in the region. Bark-stripping, called girdling, slowly kills trees too difficult to cut down immediately for charcoal production.
Like other parts of Zambia, households in Solwezi, the provincial capital of the mineral-rich North-Western Province, have little or no access to electricity or gas supplies. Instead, they rely on wood to cook, and to heat water and their homes. And because they have limited options for employment and income generation, many locals are taking advantage of the quick profit from charcoal business. Charcoal production is illegal and despite efforts by the local government in Solwezi to stop it, it continues:
People rely on charcoal business to feed their children and send them to school,” says John Katonga, a local leader in Kapijimpanga Chiefdom, Solwezi District.
Katonga and his colleagues have asked USAID’s Alternative to Charcoal activity to help solve the charcoal production problem. USAID’s Alternatives to Charcoal works with communities across Zambia and in Solwezi to support rural households to strengthen their livelihoods in sustainable and resilient ways. The activity supports sustainable alternative livelihoods for forest adjacent communities as well as partnerships with agri-businesses to ensure strong market linkages for these communities.
Katonga and his colleagues met with USAID Alternative to Charcoal staff in Kapijimpanga. Together they identified two areas in Kapijimpanga and Kalumbila Districts for Community Forest Management. This will give local communities control over their own natural resources and guide them to be transparent and accountable.
Katonga and other leaders from the surrounding villages returned home to their villages to raise awareness about the consequences of deforestation including the depletion in soil quality, the reduction of agricultural productivity, and contributing to localized and global climate change, which will further impoverish households in the communities and destroy the environment.
Involving communities increases buy in and local ownership. Communities are uniquely positioned to better manage their lands and forests. They have first-hand knowledge of the key drivers of deforestation and unsustainable land use.
Communities living in and around Zambia’s forests cannot solve the deforestation problem alone. Charcoal consumption in urban areas drives deforestation and degradation in Zambia’s forests and rural areas. To address this, USAID Alternatives to Charcoal helps create demand for alternative sources of energy such as hydropower electricity, efficient gasifier stoves that use pellets, liquified petroleum gas, known as LPG, ethanol, and biogas while creating linkages with private sector players to supply these technologies. This will help urban households reduce pressures on the environment, while saving money on cooking fuel and reducing harmful emissions in the home kitchen.
USAID Alternative to Charcoal works to reduce urban demand for and rural supply of charcoal but providing both rural and urban families with alternative approaches to meet their families' immediate needs while preserving the environment for their children and their grandchildren’s future.
