Kamwi Alphonse, 65, lives in the Bulengo displacement camp and makes charcoal primarily for his family, but occasionally sells it as well. He sells a plastic bag for 600 Francs — about a dollar. Photo: Miguel Samper for Mercy Corps

This has been reposted from the Mercy Corps blog.

Most people have heard of conflict or "blood" diamonds, but fewer may be aware of conflict charcoal. The charcoal trade in Congo's North Kivu Province is primarily controlled by a long-standing rebel group. Much of the charcoal in Goma is produced from trees in Virunga National Park.

While in Goma recently, Balemba, an employee of the park service (ICCN), came to speak to Mercy Corps about activities in the park. The ICCN patrols the park regularly, both to protect the gorilla population, but also to discourage charcoal production in the park. Balemba works with communities that live on the borders of Virunga National Park and strives to find ways to increase revenue for the local population in an environmentally friendly way.

Currently it is common practice for communities to engage in the charcoal trade as a way to make money. As an alternative, the ICCN is distributing biomass briquette presses to local associations. The associations receive training on how to make the briquettes and are responsible for collecting the biomass (which includes dried grass, sawdust or paper) needed to make them.

One press can produce approximately 500 briquettes per day. The briquettes can be used to cook with and are a cleaner energy source than charcoal. Mercy Corps is currently distributing briquettes to 700 beneficiaries for use in fuel efficient stoves.

Balemba warned that while the briquettes are largely a positive development, there are negative consequences to offsetting the charcoal trade. Briquette presses may be destroyed by the rebels that control the charcoal trade, or community members may be forced to produce or transport charcoal for them.

As with most things in Congo, it's a complex situation.

A ventor illegally sells bags of charcoal on the side of the road. Photo: Scott Gregory Photography (flickr)

Charcoal is Malawi's cheapest energy source, but local dependency on charcoal fuel is stripping the country's forests. The charcoal trade is illegal in Malawi, and now government and environmental groups are scrambling to find affordable forms of alternative energy for heating and cooking.

A shift away from charcoal seems implausible for many residents of the tiny southeast African country, where electricity and other energy options are much more expensive. Voice of America reports that Malawians, who earn an average of $19 a month, would have to fork out $30 for a new electric hot plate, where a locally made charcoal stove costs only $2.

Environmentalists say the charcoal trade is responsible for the loss of 50,000 hectares of native forests — the highest deforestation rate in Southeastern Africa.

Police roadblocks have failed to significantly impede charcoal trafficking. Malawi charcoal producer John Manda told VOA why he continues to ignore the charcoal ban:

I have been burning charcoal for 20 years. This is where my bread and butter come from; this is where I get money to pay school fees for my children. Although I know that it is not legal, there is no way I can stop without government giving me an alternative business.

Charcoal is one of the few industries in Malawi that benefits the poor, economist Patrick Kambewa told IRIN. In 2007, Kambewa published a report on charcoal consumption, trade and production which estimated that around 93,000 people depend on the charcoal industry for employment. (Malawi has a population of over 10 million.) Kambewa suggests that industry regulation — not criminalization — is a wiser way to address charcoal consumption.

"[Criminalizing the charcoal trade] has not helped matters, and all government ought to do is look into issues of taxation and rehabilitation of forests," said Kambewa. "People should be trained on how to manage forests at community level. They should be told about the importance of reforestation and the need to manage such resources.

Malawi is trying to wean itself off charcoal. The locally-based Wildlife and Environmental Society is training people in other profitable vocations like beekeeping and fruit juice production. Meanwhile, the government, with assistance from the European Union, has launched a six-year program that promotes sustainable forest management. The program will also push for expanding use of wind and solar energy. But VOA says people are skeptical that these efforts will fail to reduce the temptation of the lucrative charcoal trade.

In refugee camps in Sudan and the Congo, Mercy Corps trained locals to build and use fuel-efficient stoves, reducing the demand for firewood and ultimately cutting consumption by 50 percent.

The endangered mountain gorilla calls the Virunga National Park in the DRC home. Unfortunately so do soldiers, poachers and the illegal charcoal trade. Photo: Ramon Azofra (flickr)

It was about this time last year when four gorillas were murdered in cold blood in the Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

A photo of the 530-pound Senkwekwe, head of the massacred gorilla family, being carried to burial by Congolese villagers, ignited international outrage and garnered the public’s attention, if only for a moment. Almost a year later, National Geographic has published a magnificent piece examining the gorilla murders in the Virunga National Park.

Poachers were quickly dismissed as suspects due to the intact remains of the animals, leaving soldiers from the Congolese military or two other rebel factions as the likely culprits. Soldiers on all sides of the conflict have wreaked havoc on local communities, killing indiscriminately and raping women, including children as young as three years old. Despite such acts, soldiers insist they are under strict instructions not to harm the gorillas.

So who — or what — explains the murders?

"Follow the trail of charcoal," Emmanuel de Merode had said at the WildlifeDirect office. "Charcoal is the biggest threat to the park."

Charcoal, as we discover over the next few days, is the main source of energy, and evil, in North Kivu. Charcoal is used by 98 percent of the households for cooking, boiling water to make it potable, and also for heat. In the city of Goma, a constant pall of charcoal smoke smudges out the sun and makes the rough streets, rumpled with hardened lava from the 2002 eruption of Nyiragongo, appear to be pathways to hell.

Hardwood charcoal is the economic prize in the DRC and it comes from old growth hard wood trees found within Virunga National Park — home to half the world's population of mountain gorillas.

A sack of charcoal sells for $25 on average. Doing the math De Merode estimates that in 2006, when gorilla tourism brought in less than $300,000, the Virunga charcoal industry was worth more than $30 million.

It is estimated that at the rate that charcoal is harvested from the park, the entire southern portion of the park will be gone in ten years. An area considered to be perhaps the most biologically diverse and best of its kind, may soon vanish.

Aware of these facts, and the local implications, neighboring Rwanda has banished the internal production of charcoal. However, this approach does nothing to mitigate Rwanda's own internal demand for the product. They just buy it from the Congolese.

But what does this have to do with the death of four gorillas in July 2007?

Writer Mark Jenkins met with Paulin Ngobobo, chief warden of the Virunga National Park, to hear his story. When Ngobobo worked for the National Parks he quickly realized that all sides were profiting from the charcoal trade, from the Congolese military to Hutu militias and local chiefs — even the park rangers. In a struggle for conservation of the gorilla's home, he realized that the charcoal trade had to be stopped in its tracks.

At this point Paulin Ngobobo was detained and beaten, allegedly by men directed by the former chief park warden, Honoré Mashagiro, who was actively involved in the very trade which was destroying the park he was charged with protecting. To discredit Ngobobo's anti-charcoal trade efforts it is alleged that Mashagiro had the gorillas killed and blamed their murders on Ngobobo. Despite Mashagiro's efforts, Ngobobo has been cleared of the accusations and remains free. Mashagiro, on the other hand, has been imprisoned in Goma and awaits trial for the killings of the Virunga mountain gorillas.

The story of the DRC's illegal charcoal trade is a difficult one. Who is to blame? A culture of corruption which ensures that park rangers and soldiers will smuggle charcoal to supplement a non-existent salary? Citizens of Goma and neighboring Rwanda who demand the charcoal for cooking?

One thing is for sure: along with peace, the DRC is also in desperate need of alternative energy sources.