The innovative project presented here aims to reduce deforestation in the Congo Basin by intervening in the agricultural systems currently used in the region. Farmers there rely on a technique known as 'slash-and-burn' or 'shifting cultivation': they cut down trees to free up land, and burn the biomass, which results in substantial emissions of greenhouse gases. Under current circumstances, the necessary fallow period is no longer maintained, leading to a rapid decline of soil fertility and crop yields. The consequences: farmers shift faster and deforest more.

Our project aims to slow down, and eventually phase out, this cycle. It does so by introducing biochar into the problem soils of farm lands at the forest frontier. Biochar is a form of stable carbon obtained from the pyrolysis of sustainably harvested biomass. Its introduction into soils not only improves soil fertility, its production also yields useful energy. At the same time, biochar sequesters carbon in a permanent, secure and easily measurable way.

Because of this unique synergy, we aim to tackle four major problems simultaneously: food insecurity resulting from soil depletion, deforestation, energy poverty and climate change.

The project is funded by the Congo Basin Forest Fund (CBFF), an initiative of the British and Norwegian governments. It will be implemented during three years in the region of Pimu, in the Equateur Province of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The people implementing the project belong to a partnership of three organisations: ADAPEL, an NGO based in the DRC, the Biochar Fund, a social profit based in Belgium, and Biochar.org, a research group from the United States. Financial oversight is provided by the African Development Bank .

You are welcome to explore our project in depth at this website.