Charcoal producers urged to follow regulations: MEFT

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The Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism (MEFT) has strongly warned charcoal producers contravening the regulation on charcoal production during the fire season, which commenced on 01 May 2022.

He said perpetrators will be liable for prosecution under the Forest Act 12 of 2001.

A directive issued recently by the Director of Forestry in the ministry, Johnson Ndokosho, said many parts of Namibia received higher-than-average rain during the 2021/2022 season and the charcoal industry will kickstart production, which will seek stricter guidelines to avoid uncontrollable rangelands fires countrywide.

He said annually wildfires burn millions of hectares of rangeland countrywide, which is a great concern to many farmers who depend on the rangeland for their livelihoods, hence there is a need for stricter guidelines for the charcoal industry, noting that failure to adhere to guidelines may lead to non-grating of harvesting permits.

The guideline dictate that charcoal burners must be trained on basic firefighting, all neighbours must be informed before charcoal production starts, whilst no tree bigger than 18 centimeter in diameter should be harvested, while protected tree species must not be harvested, unless special authorisation is granted by the director’s office.

“Harvesting permits for charcoal production will be issued only after the inspection has verified resource availability. The most important principle is to manage and control the area where charcoal is burned,” he said.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency