Charcoal Production and Sustainable Forest Management

Charcoal production remains a cornerstone of energy provision in many regions, particularly across sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and parts of Asia. Traditionally derived through the pyrolysis of woody biomass in simple earth mound or brick kilns, charcoal supplies urban and rural households with cooking and heating fuel. However, unregulated harvesting of timber, low carbonisation efficiency and lack of governance often drive forest degradation, biodiversity loss and elevated greenhouse-gas emissions. Sustainable forest management seeks to mitigate these impacts by integrating selective harvesting protocols, community stewardship, forest regeneration and landscape restoration. Innovations such as improved kiln designs can raise charcoal yields and lower pollutant outputs, while agroforestry and dedicated woodlots offer alternative biomass sources that relieve pressure on primary forests. Effective policy frameworks and equitable benefit-sharing mechanisms encourage local participation and help align energy security with ecosystem conservation. By embedding charcoal value chains within a holistic forest management paradigm, it is possible to maintain rural livelihoods, secure household energy access and safeguard forest integrity at a global scale.

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Charcoal Production and Sustainable Forest Management publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in charcoal production and sustainable forest management across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Pyrolysis: Thermal decomposition of biomass under low-oxygen conditions, yielding charcoal and gaseous by-products.

Carbonisation efficiency: Proportion of initial wood mass converted into charcoal, indicating process performance.

Forest degradation: Gradual reduction in forest quality and biomass due to selective removal and ecosystem stress.

Earth mound kiln: Traditional low-technology pit for charcoal production, characterised by high emission rates and variable yields.

References

1. Improvements in charcoal production and the environmental implications: Potential for the invasive Prosopis juliflora in Kenya. Resources Conservation & Recycling Advances (2023).
2. The unintended consequences of production bans: the case of the 2018 Kenya logging moratorium. Environmental Research Letters (2024).
3. The impact of charcoal production on forest degradation: a case study in Tete, Mozambique. Environmental Research Letters (2016).