Galmudug State to create jobs for charcoal burners

Galmudug government is planning to create jobs for hundreds of charcoal burners amid charcoal burning has already taken a massive toll on Acacia groves and forests, and the speed of desertification is accelerating.

Galmudug minister for environment, Mohamed Hussein Mohamud speaking to Goobjoog News, has expressed Concerned over the impact of charcoal-burning on the environment.

“We are concerned about the environmental degradation caused by the charcoal, and we are working with several organisations to search [for] alternatives to create job for those working on charcoal burning,” said Mohamud. “The problem that increases… forest burning for charcoal is the poverty in the countryside and the high demand [for] charcoal energy in the urban [areas].”

Mohamed Ali Dahir, a charcoal burner said many people were doing it out of poverty.

He said charcoal burners and buyers are provided cash upon purchase.

“I am trying to survive, I can’t sit hungry in that forest,” Dahir said.

“I have been in this trade for three years; we get our supply from upcountry because the charcoal produced there is of a good quality and in high demand,” Dahir told Goobjoog News.

Since the collapse of the central government in 1991, Somalia has been a haven for many environmentally destructive illegal activities such as nuclear and toxic waste dumping, over-fishing and illegal fishing by international fishing enterprises, and the rapacious importation of Somali charcoal by the Gulf States.

In a country with little electrical power, charcoal is the predominant domestic cooking fuel and is now managed by a network of more than 30 local brokers and was also controlled by armed groups such as al-Shabaab before losing seaports they used to export from.

In 2012 the UN banned exports of Somali charcoal, but the ban was not endorsed in the areas not under the control of the government.