A discussion leader of a significant Biochar discussion group very recently asked me to educate more about Biochar regarding the Slash and Burn issue in Indonesia. My thankful response to Trevor Richards follows.
Sierra Madre, Aurora Province, 2009. Part of the remaining 2.7% of the originial forest that remains nationwide.
I'm heading back to the forest in April for several months and will be working the Biochar during that period and will report the results through articles. Regarding the persistent slash and burn problem, not only in Indonesia but around the tropical world, my observations in the Philippines seem to be common to the others. I've consulted to "expert" consultants of the major development bank here and found that the proximate cause is generally overlooked in favor of more complicated indirect causes, such as alternative crop selection.
The Proximate CauseSimply put, farming is hard work. The farmer prefers that his crops be close to his home and he does not want to climb a mountain. He does not want the extra work that it takes to clear a new patch of land. Why then does he go to so much effort to slash a forest that is farther from his home and higher up the mountain? Why does he then burn the forest that he just slashed rather than utilizing it productively and sustainably? He has to eat and make a living. The crops that he grows require fertile ground.
The Solution
Biochar can be a solution to the problem because it is the need for fertile land into which the farmer must plant his crop that he chooses this laborious route to growing his next crop. As we know the forest yields fertile land for no more than three years before it plays out. Fertilizers, whether commercial or organic are either not available or are too costly to obtain from long distances and therefore the least costly approach that the farmer sees is to clear more land. The logging bands prevent the sale of the logs and the wasteful and harmful burning of them is their solution, i.e. Singapore is covered with smoke and the GHG emissions continue, not only in Indonesia but throughout the Third World.
Teach the making of Biochar from forest trash to replace
the making of charcoal from cut trees.
The Methodology
The use of Biochar should be a system that involves the farmer. He must know about the forest, which most farmers have little knowledge about. He must be taught about organic trash, how much to harvest, how much to leave on the forest floor. He must be taught how to convert it properly into Biochar and how to spread it onto his fields.
One series of lessons will produce such positive results that the teachers will teach more teachers and the slashing and burning will stop simply because it is less work and more productive to continue farming the same piece of stationary property that is no longer moving farther up the mountain and farther from home; and now his crops remain closer to the market. Less work for higher productivity is what the farmer will see.
After this is accomplished we can teach the use of organic and probiotic methodology in combination with the Biochar to make living soil for sustainability and the diminished need of traditional fertilizers. After that we can teach Agroforestry for sustainability, biodiversity and locally based economic development which eradicates poverty. Biochar is the best and least costly beginning point.
The Cost
The cost is minimal for the return. For less than one thousand dollars for equipment plus the cost of training more than 100 hectares can be saved and the GHG emissions stopped.
Please help by sending your three (3) dollars at the top right of this page. Tell your friends and ask them to contribute as well. Thank you, Joseph J. Reynolds, President, Ilin Value Added Forestry Management Services Foundation, Inc.
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