TO MY FELLOW WORLD CITIZENS IN ZAMBIA
I have a concept to make the Charcoal Industry in Zambia sustainable. Let me make myself clear there are many opinions on the use of charcoal in Zambia for cooking and heating. Using charcoal for these domestic tasks is clearly contributing to the mass destruction of the forests of Zambia. The concept I have is to make one of the biggest industries in Zambia both sustainable and economically beneficial. To do this, we must make a start. As citizens of the world, it is our obligation to the other species who share our world not to cause the demise of this planet.
With this said, I ask you to contact me if you are interested and in agreement with creating community forests in every inch of Zambia. They will be run by local citizens, shown how to manage their forest and to run the charcoal industry in a sustainable and economical way. I would like to hear from you, other organizations already in this field of work, and those organizations interested in participating. Hopefully, the newly formed Government will come on board as a major partner with us. I will contact those interested as we move forward.
At this time I would like to thank you all for the great response to my idea. It is all coming together now. The road map is clear in my head and I will try to explain things the best I can as we go along. The first thing that is of interest to every man and woman in Zambia is that something has to be done about the massive over-cutting of your forests. There is no blame here. As everyone must eat to survive. We all know that a brazier using charcoal on the back porch; be it in a village or a house in urban Lusaka makes the best nshima. It is part of your traditional cooking methods, so at this time we cannot wave a magic wand and the problem of deforestation will go away. Let us hope that an alternative source of heat is found very soon. Until then, let us follow the tradition BUT let us do it sustainably.
The first thing that needs to happen is to literally turn Zambia into a mass of community forests, big and small. Every tree in Zambia should be in a community forest being it an urban community forest, looking after the trees growing within the city limits or a huge tract of wilderness in the far reaches of Zambian provinces. The best stewards of the land are the people of the community as they are the users and many times the abusers. Remember that the old grandmother with poor eye sight and shaky legs and the unborn baby own the forest. As well as you. Not just the man with the sharpest axe. Remember…..there is no blame here! We are after a solution. So the first step we must take is to take control of what goes on in your forest. Your future depends on it. Start thinking sustainable community forests. We must all put our shoulder to the wheel…..we can make this work. Let me know if you are interested.
Garry Brooks
World Citizen
africancommunityproject@gmail.com
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SUSTAINABLE FUELWOOD IN ZAMBIA 