DEFORESTATION
Reducing Deforestation with Bamboo Charcoal
Charcoal demand is a big driver of deforestation. Bamboo can effectively meet the demand while providing many other climate benefits.
What is charcoal?
Charcoal is the fine black powder made by burning wood or other carbon-rich substances in the minimum presence of air. This charcoal finds its uses in many areas like metallurgy, construction, healthcare, industrial filter, etc. When further heated at very high temperatures, we get activated charcoal. This is primarily used in healthcare, construction, and water purification.
Throughout Africa, charcoal is commonly used for cooking since it is often cheaper than other energy sources. Throughout EU and America, charcoal use is going up with growing popularity of barbecues.
Problem with deforestation
With the increasing population and growing demand for things like housing, water purification, etc. especially in developing countries, the charcoal market is expected to grow significantly. While the expected growth rate for the next five years is close to 1.6% per year, don't let this small number mislead you.
The world's top two charcoal-producing nations are Brazil and Nigeria, and they both are losing forests at an alarming rate. While the direct deforestation impact is hard to nail down in Brazil, an increase in the use of charcoal for steel production indirectly doubled the sector's emissions. Nigeria has lost almost 50% of its forests in the last two decades, with up to 15% of demand coming from charcoal alone.
What makes bamboo different from trees?
To stop deforestation, many governments are banning wood charcoal production and suggesting bamboo charcoal as a substitute.
Now, bamboo can grow up to 1m a day and is the fastest-growing woody species. Even degraded soils can be used to grow bamboo. And while it sequesters almost the same amount of carbon while growing, the fact that it just grows so much faster means it can remove a lot more carbon in a similar time frame. And as this bamboo finds its use in multiple industries, particularly in construction and furnishings to replace wood, the carbon remains locked in.
Compared to a tropical forest, which can take decades to mature, bamboo can be harvested in as little as three years.
The message here, of course, is not to replace tree forests with bamboo, but to use degraded lands to grow bamboo to reap its additional benefits and improve soil quality.
Is bamboo charcoal any better than wood?
Yes. If awareness and the existing supply chain were not an impeding factor, the superior properties of bamboo charcoal would make it an obvious choice over wood charcoal. It is more porous, making it more effective in adsorption. It has more surface area, making it produce more heat when burning. It is also less polluting to burn burning bamboo charcoal than wood charcoal.
It is, therefore, no surprise that many countries like China, Taiwan, Japan, and many other African countries are getting serious about exploring bamboo's role in sustainably developing their economies. Not only will it help in more carbon capture, but it will also help in reducing deforestation by providing raw material for many cases where wood is traditionally used.
