The
Environmental problems of
cutting
trees and charcoal
Mustafe
Sulub Muhumed
Normally, to
prepare their food for the three meals people in Somaliland Republic
usecharcoal. While they are producing charcoal, they cut and burn
trees.
The growth
and increasing populations in towns are harming the environment.
There are
efforts to reduce this harmful burning and cutting trees.
From
1997-2002 charcoal production has increased in Somaliland. An
assessment of charcoal production between 1997 to 2002, was carried
out by the ministry of Pastoralism and development of rural society,
focusing on three urban towns: Hargeisa, Berbera and Burao.
In Hargeisa,
charcoal production increased from around 100 to over 1000 metric
tons during these five years, according to report made by Somali NGO
called FSAU.
Certainly,
Somaliland intellectuals and educated people aware to the
communities that the effect of cutting tree and its danger to the
society.
As some
experts believe, in the lat 1950’s it appears that the production of
wood fuel and charcoal had little impact on the environment.
This is
changed in 1960’s when the growth of populations in urban areas
increased and accompanying demand for energy, with the charcoal
experts.
The
production of charcoal from the acacia hardwood tree and this tree
mostly found in high densities in Sool, Sanaag, Togheer and some
other areas.
A survey
presented by the ministry of pastoralism and developing rural
society of Somaliland on charcoal production in Hargeisa, Burao and
Berbera shows that the production in the three towns has increased
for this following reasons:
Urban
populations have grown, increasing the demand; charcoal production
became a common income option for rural communities, the price of
charcoal increased; and there are no effective controls in place to
protect the environment from deforestation.
It was for
the purposes of approving the activities on environmental charcoal
production that a meeting
which
prepared by the local NGO, Candle-light about the Environment was
held
July, 2006 at
Hotel Maansoor in Hargeisa. The meeting was attended by the
Director general
of the
Ministry of Pastoralism and Development of rural society, the Family
Affairs
minister,
director of local agency of Candlelight.
“To protect
the problems of the environment, certain social development and
local association
took
essential steps that they plan to reduce ctivities harmful to the
environment
like the
charcoal production,” said Candlelight executive director Ahmed
Ibrahim Awale
giving report.
Her further
said “Organizations, Candlelight and ADO supplied to community some
samples of cooking stove which is made of frame to save more heat
energy, and gave together training skills of making and using
this equipment.
Similar steps
were taken by the international agency IUCN in 2005 to get rid
of using charcoal for cooking and to find another alternative for
using charcoal.
And
campaigning and encouraging people not to cut trees.
In certain
areas of the world people use solar power and other gases
or cooking by
fire gas, electricity,
