Typically, the production technique – earth kilns, used by smallholders – cannot properly regulate the oxygen supply, leading to inefficiencies. Simply put, they use more wood to produce little charcoal and emit more emissions compared to emerging carbonisation techniques. Making the charcoal sector less carbon intensive is desirable. But the current pathways chosen by various governments aren’t sustainable because they deprive many poor farmers of the means of their survival.
AuthorEric Kumeh Mensah
Doctoral Researcher, University of Hohenheim.
Eric Kumeh Mensah is a Ghanaian national, who has obtained a B.Sc in Agroforestry and an M.Sc. and Natural Resource Governance from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana.
As a former development worker, Eric has won and implemented several projects, including some funded by the FAO, the EU, the Dutch Ministry for Foreign Affairs (DGIS) and the Norwegian Development Agency (NORAD).
Eric is in the final embers of his PhD candidacy (DAAD scholar) and has published several works in natural resource governance and Agroforestry.