Fueling Change

There is a fuel crisis that is about to hit critical mass. With all the checkpoints erected around the park, the flow of charcoal has been dramatically reduced and prices have climbed substantially. Understandably, a lot of people are unhappy. Politicians as well as a lobby of charcoal traders are putting pressure on the Provincial Governor to remove the checkpoint at Kibati. They argue that Kibati is only serving to harass people and put pressure on the “little guy”. Although the checkpoints now have the buy-in of the top brass in the Army, as well as the backing of the civilian and military court officials, the Provincial Governor may bow to the pressure to release the checkpoints in order to avoid popular revolt. And this is coming at a time when the Minister of the Environment is considering erecting another checkpoint at Mugunga. Everyone seems to be moving in a different direction.

As much as we want to stop deforestation, there needs to be alternatives in place before shutting down the charcoal trade completely. Clearly, we are not going to win people over to conservation by taking away their only fuel source.

So where to from here?