As pointed out in the gorilla protection blog, the checkpoints have yielded approximately 80 tons of illegal charcoal coming out of Virunga NP. These checkpoints have also proved effective in interdicting illegal bushmeat.

Bushmeat hidden amongst a load of produce

Like illegal charcoal, the bushmeat trade has a wide variety of players, both in the forest and in the marketplace. Among the more well-known, are soldiers that often run loads of bushmeat together with illegal charcoal. Women try to smuggle out smaller quantities on foot. The checkpoints are now becoming the #1 way to intercept bushmeat.

Sad end: elephant, buffalo, hippo, and antelope intercepted before making it to Goma

Unusual find: Fresh bushmeat — usually it is smoked before being transported

In the city of Goma, the bushmeat trade isn’t an officially recognized trade, but regardless, it is a flourishing informal one. Women sell bushmeat door to door, calling on a well-established clientele comprised of households, restaurants — even offices. This somewhat clandestine approach to selling makes it difficult to crack the bushmeat rings in Goma. For now though, it is a good sign that the larger shipments are being stopped at the checkpoints. Small amounts can easily be smuggled around these checkpoints, but at least the new charcoal interdiction measures are constricting the bushmeat trade.

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A follow-up post by Ephrem:
After two months in operation, the ICCN Kibati checkpoint has made an appreciable difference in reducing the illegal charcoal trade at the south-eastern side of Virunga National Park. ICCN rangers and government troops are now doing joint patrols and working together to man the checkpoints. The results of these actions are:

• 2200 sacs (more than 110 tons) of illegal charcoal has been confiscated and re-distributed by UNHCR to camps providing refuge to displaced people
• Decrease in the number of sacs seized per day from 200 to less than 20
• 80% decrease in charcoal production in the Virunga NP
• Nearly 100% reduction of illegal charcoal smuggled to Rwanda

Checkpoint: One of the few military trucks still trying to pass through with charcoal

Who has been affected by the new charcoal interdiction efforts? Those in the commodity chain:

• Rwandan militias or Interahamwe, who charge fees to access areas of the forest and who oversee the actual carbonization of the wood to make charcoal.

• Corrupt members of the Congolese military who also charge the people making charcoal to look the other way, those in the military who sell Makala or charcoal, and those who charge the charcoal “mules” (peasants) for passage out of the park. Most of these peasants have now returned to their fields so the soldiers have lost this source of income.
• Truckers
• Charcoal production and distribution bosses

Who are the big losers?
Sadly, it is the people in Goma City. In December 20007, the price was $15 (US) per sac. That same sac now costs $25-30 (US). This isn’t entirely the result of the charcoal interdiction efforts. The effects of increased fuel prices and logistical issues related to washed out roads (common in the rainy season) are also to blame. With prices on the rise, it is clear that the policy of charcoal interdiction will meet with increased resistance and resentment unless affordable alternatives to charcoal are made available. That is the mission of this blog!

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Latest report from Ephrem:

Local politicians in Goma question the crackdown
The campaign against illegal charcoal continues, but there is a lot of pressure from local politicians to remove the checkpoint established by ICCN in Kibati. Provincial Senator Muhindo Nzangi Butondo made a formal request to the Environmental Provincial Minister asking him to open up the charcoal crisis to a public debate, in hopes of increasing awareness about the energy crisis in the N. Kivu province.

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Scan of the letter sent by Butondo to Provincial Minister of Environment, Ndoole

This is our translation to English:
According to article 197 of the constitution of the Democratic Republic of Congo, as well as articles 149 and 161, we would like to address the following question and open it up for debate: In the last few days, we have seen measures taken which limit the supply of charcoal in Goma City — the main fuel used by eighty percent of the population. These measures have increased the scarcity of charcoal and driven up prices in the market. Because such issues fall under your jurisdiction, we respectfully request answers to the following questions:

• Why is the charcoal supply being restricted?
• Who has made this unilateral decision?
• Because the people of Goma have begun to suffer as a result of this decision, something must be done to remedy the problems that have surfaced as a result of restricting the charcoal supply. What kind of measures is your Ministry taking to mitigate the effects of this new policy?
• What kind of sustainable solutions are you considering regarding the need for wood-based fuels in the Province?

Please give this your utmost attention your Excellence, and know that it is my patriotism that causes me to bring this to your attention.

-Honorable Butonto Nzangi

Response from the Provincial Minister of the Environment
Mme Félicité Ndoole, the Provincial Minister of Environment, addressed Nganzi’s questions in the local Parliament today. She upheld the move to restrict illegally harvested charcoal coming out of the Virunga NP, and made it clear that, in the long-term, this was in the best interest of everyone. Ndoole’s explanations received the support from the majority of Parliament members, and their approval to continue with the interdiction measures. This is a big success for conservationist and a blow to the self-interests of the charcoal lobby.

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In my last post, I talked about all of the various stuff or “residues” that can be used to make briquettes — to replace illegal forest charcoal. Although there are definitely some nuances to making a good briquette, it seems pretty feasible. But what about building the press itself? We are looking into the feasibility of bringing briquette making to the displaced peoples camps and elsewhere in the Congo, but really don’t have a good feeling for what it takes to build a briquette press, so I decided to try and build one. I figure that by building a press, I’ll better understand the challenges that will be faced by those trying to do the same in Congo. Armed with a press building manual from the Legacy Foundation, I headed to the lumber yard to buy my materials.

Getting the materials
The wood required is basic 2 x 4 and 2 x 6 stock, which is readily available in the DRC. Very basic cuts need to be made to get the various pieces to the required dimensions. I cheated by using power tools, but hand tools could easily do the same thing, they would just take longer. The other materials needed are 3/4-inch gas pipe, to be used for pivot points on the press and as a piston guide, eight bolts, 4-inch PVC pipe, and a couple of metal “washers” that attach to a wood piston that slides through the PVC pipe and compresses the briquette material.

Measuring and cutting
This part of the process went quickly, taking only about an hour and a half. Without power tools, I think it would take about 4-5 hours. The only other tool needed is a framing square.

Cheating: Using a power saw and drill instead of a hand saw and manual drill

Preserving the wood
Because the press is going to be used in a wet environment, it’s important to protect the wood against moisture damage. I used a non-toxic water-based deck oil, but linseed oil or even motor oil will work fine. This step will literally add years to the life of the press.

Oiled and ready to be put together

Putting the puzzle together
Who needs directions!? Hmm… I guess I do. This is where things started to get a little more challenging. Constructing a press doesn’t seem to be that difficult, but one can’t wing it, especially when it comes to the piston assembly, which, I’m still working on. Virginia, who has been busy buying the materials for her own press near Bukavu, may run into difficulties if she finds a fabricator that thinks he knows everything (the kind of guy whose first move is to throw away the manual when putting something new together). I’m sure she’ll keep him honest. And, it’s not just about following directions. Things such as installing the pivot pipes and cotter pins require being methodical and exacting. If one tries to slam these parts of the puzzle into place, they will have a press that teeters and groans, and will in all likelihood, not last very long.

So far, so good…

Next steps
Tomorrow, I’ll put the top beam and handle assembly together and drill the holes for the cotter pins, which will keep the pivot pipes from falling out. And, once I make the metal washers for the piston, we can take a close look at where the actual briquette is formed — and how.

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Time to get our hands dirty. In my last post, I spoke of why cooking briquettes made of agricultural residue and other dry biomass can be a great alternative to illegal charcoal production in the Virunga National Park — or most anywhere for that matter. Now let’s see what it takes to actually make these briquettes.

Get your residues
To begin with, you have to gather your residues. Sounds a bit comical doesn’t it? “Well, I’m going out looking for residue today…” OK, so I’m a residue nerd. What we need is any biomass residue — by that I mean anything that once grew out of the ground or is made from something that did — that will readily burn. That leaves us (pardon the pun…) a lot of options, but most likely, we’re talking about collecting leaves, grasses, rice husks, jatropha or moringa olifeira husks, coconut husks, coffee husks, corn husks, straw, and the like. We’ll need about 125 -150 kg of dry material per day to keep one press busy. If we can come upon sawdust and paper scraps we may be able to reduce this amount by as much as 40%.

Dry and pulverize your residues
One of the keys to a good briquette is that it compresses well and doesn’t fall apart. In order to achieve this, the fibers making up the briquette must interlock and stick together. This means that all your materials being used must be ground or pulverized before being pressed. In the most primitive (and slow) briquette making operations, a mortar and pestle is used. As the Legacy Foundation points out, though, this approach can mean that briquette makers are spending 70% of their time hand grinding. This could be a major disincentive to people trying to make the switch from illegal forest charcoal to residue briquettes. In more advanced operations, however, a hand-cranked grinder can be used — or even a modified chipper or lawn mower.

Make your residue slurry
Once the mix of residues has been ground, it’s time to turn it into a damp slurry. The goal here is to create a mixed mush of all your ingredients. As you might imagine, this is where all of the various residues starting sticking together and interlocking, which is the key to making a briquette that doesn’t fall apart. But, because our mix still has a lot of it’s organic structure left, it’s still going to want to resist being pressed into a tight and compact briquette. We need to get our slurry ingredients to relax and get comfortable with the idea of being pressed tightly together with a bunch of residues that they don’t know. This process is similar to the breaking down of wood lignin in the paper making, except here, we aren’t using toxic chemicals.

Residues that compost together, stick together
To get our various residues to relax, we’ll need to spread them out on a big sheet of black plastic, and then cover them with more of that same black plastic. For the next several days or weeks, depending on conditions, the residues will be having a “bacterial social”. All sorts of composting bacteria will be working to soften the attitudes of our residues, convincing them that true love comes only with closeness. The trick here, though, is not to overdo the composting - or the love. We only want to soften our residues, not turn them into soil. If we’ve put on a good decomposition party, we’ll have a group of disparate residues that are dying to be pressed into briquettes.

Hey, where’s the press?!
Detail, details… looks like we have all this great briquette mix, but no press. Better get on that before our residues have a change of heart. Be right back…

Next Post: Building a briquette press…

DONATIONS
A big “thank you” goes out to Alisa Y. who donated $100.00, Jennifer E. who donated $35.00, Chris and Kristi K., and Scott and Cindy N. who donated $25.00. Thanks for being a part of the solution!

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From Malawi to Peru, people are quickly discovering that cutting down forests to make charcoal is just about the most inefficient way to produce cooking fuel. And, it turns their once beautiful forests into moonscape rife with soil erosion. Until now, it appears that this realization has skipped right over the Congo. For the last several decades, the forests of the Virunga National Park have been getting cut down at an alarming rate to make charcoal, and in the process, half of the world’s remaining mountain gorillas have found their forest homes turning into grasslands.

Charcoal - Inefficient you say?
To put it mildly. Fuel wood used for charcoal production loses an incredible 75% of its heating capability in the process of being turned from fuel wood to charcoal. Once you factor in inefficient combustion resulting from primitive stove technologies – or in many cases no stoves at all – charcoal loses another 15-18% of it’s heating capability, resulting in a fuel that is about 6% efficient. So, the dirty secret is that one of the world’s most amazing animals, the mountain gorilla, is being driven to extinction for the sake of a fuel that loses 94% of it’s heating value by the time it cooks a meal — not that any efficiency could justify the mountain gorillas’ demise.

Photo courtesy of the Legacy Foundation

How organic mixed waste briquettes out compete traditional charcoal
According to the Legacy Foundation, a veritable alternative fuel think tank, “although non-woody biomass has only 75-80% of the heat value of woody biomass per unit weight, the briquette far outperforms wood in open fire conditions”. This is due to the plug shape of the pressed briquette and its’ hollow center. These briquettes burn largely from the inside out. The center hole acts as a flu, allowing plenty of air to flow up into the briquette, ensuring complete combustion. The unburned exterior of the briquette serves as insulation, thereby allowing the center to burn very hot. All this adds up to a far more efficient burn. Charcoal? Bring on the briquette revolution!

Next post: Making briquettes from forest and agricultural waste

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Having only held two fundraisers, this is really more of a guide written by an idiot for an audience of non-idiots. What follows are the lessons that I learned putting together the Boulder and Denver events.

1. Get help ASAP. These events take a lot of work and you will stack the odds against yourself if you try to go it alone. For example, in Boulder, I had help from Douglas Scheffer of the Highland City Club. He invited me to several lunches to speak to members about the mountain gorillas and the alternative fuels project. He also convinced the owner to put up the $260.00 for the venue, the Boulder Public Library auditorium. They also paid for the Boulder poster printing. My good friend Lisa Busch, an amazing graphic designer, designed the poster (which you can use for your fundraisers). Another friend, John Turkle, a production guy, helped me put the presentation together (also available). Another friend, Pippa, had worked with the Boulder Camera and knew a reporter that was interested in environmental issues. She gave me the person’s name, I contacted her, and the next thing I knew, I was doing a phone interview (I’m available for this, if you would rather not) — and that Sunday, we made the front page. Another friend is a photographer for the Denver Post. She gave me a name, I called and got an interview, and we were in the online edition the next day. During the event itself, my community of friends helped with the setup, charging for tickets, selling t-shirts, etc. So, as you can see, it “takes a village”.

2. Make sure your volunteers are committed. People won’t want to disappoint you, so you need to make sure that they understand what they are committing to. In Denver, a seemingly committed person took on much of the responsibility of promoting the event, such as putting up posters, speaking with professors at the University of Denver, creating a public service announcement for radio stations, and networking via email. Two days before the event, this person told me that they “just didn’t get to it”. By that time, it was too late for me to remedy the situation. As a result, we had only 19 people in attendance. Luckily, they were a very generous group. The lesson here is not only that you need to be sure of a person’s commitment, but you also have to put some kind of feedback mechanism in place so you can monitor their progress and effectiveness. I was naive to just assume that it was all getting done.

3. Choose your venue wisely. It’s tempting to want to pick the most glamorous venue, but only do so if it is affordable (donated or given at a reduced rate). You don’t want to have a big nut to crack when trying to break even with the take at the door. Remember, people know that they aren’t coming to the Academy Awards. Having said that, though, I wouldn’t hold an event in a school cafeteria. You really want to hit the right balance between cost and quality.

4. Make the price of admission reasonable. In Boulder and Denver, we set the ticket price at $5.00 and we all agreed that this was too low. Given that movies cost at least $10.00 these days, we figure we should have set the price at around $12.00. At anything below $15.00, we felt people would still be willing to make a donation above and beyond the price of admission. And, at only $5.00, it may have implied that it was going to be a bush-league presentation, which it was not.

5. Choose your approach for newspapers, radio, and TV. It’s a good idea to have your message well-crafted before approaching the media. My approach was to pitch the story as a local effort that was having a significant impact on a major international crisis. Aside from talking about the inevitable extinction of the mountain gorilla if something wasn’t (isn’t) done immediately — by ordinary citizens, I also talked about how the alternative fuels project would get at the root cause of the crisis and how it could be THE key to saving the gorillas. Whatever your pitch, you’ll want to be concise and make sure to cover the who, what, why, where, and when. Also, leverage the coverage that WildlifeDirect and the mountain gorillas have already received in the international press: Christian Science Monitor, National Geographic, Newsweek, Smithsonian, US News & World Report, CNN, 60 Minutes… With this kind of coverage and a local angle, the story places well. Be careful not to try placing the story too far in advance. I started working on the media coverage two weeks prior to the event. You can, however, start doing the legwork of finding out the names and numbers of the various editors and features writers well in advance of that. In addition, craft a public service announcement. Newspapers and radio stations will often place these for free. These are bare bones blurbs that give just enough information about the event. Lastly, don’t be afraid to follow-up on your contacts. If they don’t call you back, call them back.

6. No need to reinvent the wheel when it comes to print materials. I have all the digital files for the poster and donation letter. These can be customized for any fundraiser. And, when it comes to printing, go to Fedex-Kinkos and ask for their “non-profit” 25% discount.

7. Check up on your poster placements regularly. Don’t put up your posters and forget about them. Check every few days to make sure they are still up

8. Work email promotion. This may be the best way to get people to your event. Try to get each of your friends to bring five of their friends. Also, follow up with reminder emails as the event draws near.

I hope this helps. I’ll think about this some more, and add to it as ideas come up. Feel free to raise more questions and remember, I’m still learning, too!

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Thank you all for your interest in holding fundraisers. This is how it all happens!! When Emmanuel was here last week, we chose the September ‘08 cities by their fundraising potential — and by where I had friends that would let us sleep on the floor. That list included: Berkeley, San Francisco, Palo Alto, Colorado Springs, Santa Fe, New York City, and Boston. We have a two week window and are willing to add more shows, so if you are serious about taking on an event, please let us know. Also, if you have contacts in any of those cities that would be interested in helping, please bring them on board. From your comments on the blog, it sounds as though we have the possibility of adding events in Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, Tucson, Washington, DC, and possibly in Florida. If you want to get your feet wet — or are ready to just dive in, let me know and we can start seriously exploring the possibility of holding a fundraiser in your area. As I said to Nancy, I think the best strategy for filling these events is the grassroots approach whereby you contact your friends and see if you can convince them to bring five of their friends, and they do the same with their friends. I we do this, in addition to a media blitz, we should be able to fill our venues.

Our goal is to secure three years of funding for the Ending Charcoal project. We are going to be investing in a number of different stove technologies and that will require some significant funds. Luckily, the people attending the Boulder and Denver fundraisers shared our vision and donated generously, which has given us the funds needed to begin bringing new stove technologies to Goma. Our first step, though, is a thorough cost/benefit analysis on the various stove technologies.

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It’s time for all of us to do a little brainstorming.

Just brainstorming here, but I think it is high time that all the parties come together in one place to find a holistic solution. I’m thinking of a WildlifeDirect sponsored Alternative Energy Summit to be held in Goma. Every stakeholder would have a place at the table… experts from the international community would be invited to share their expertise… big philanthopies would be asked to help… Former President Clinton would be asked to open and close the summit… Pie in the sky? Not to my thinking, but I want to hear from you.

Please join this brainstorming session. I’ve got to believe there is a way forward.

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