Fueling Change

Category: Uncategorized | Date: Feb 05 2008 | By: admin

In the first post of the Ending Charcoal blog, I spoke of the recent crackdown on illegally harvested charcoal coming from the Virunga NP, home to 70 of the last mountain gorillas in existence. The photos below do a good job of telling the story of the action that is being taken. This really is unprecedented action to end the illegal harvest. Thanks go out to Robert Muir and the Frankfurt Zoological Society (FZS) for taking and sharing these great shots.

Trucks stopped at a joint Army-ICCN roadblock set up to interdict illegal charcoal shipments

Catch of the day - a truck stuffed to the gills with illegal charcoal

Confiscated charcoal being staged for shipment to refugee camps

A UNHCR Aid Truck being readied to transport confiscated charcoal to refugee camps for displaced people

Robert Muir of the Frankfurt Zoological Society overseeing the redistribution of seized charcoal at the camp for displaced people

Amidst a sea of displaced people, this couple is about to receive some of the confiscated charcoal. It was amazing how patient everybody was during this whole process

ICCN Rangers have gotten strong support for the charcoal ban at high levels in the Army. Below is a letter that was sent to the Provincial Director of ICCN by the Martial Court Commander. Essentially, the Army is letting ICCN know that is has sent out an edict that states that any soldier, policemen, or warden caught collaborating in any way with the illegal harvest of charcoal within the Virunga National Park will be prosecuted according to Ordinance 69-041. This is a good start, but it remains to be seen if anyone will actually be prosecuted. There have already been reports of Army personnel transporting the illegal charcoal themselves. From these reports, it is clear that the written legislation is only a first step.

Robert Williams

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