These last two weeks have been fairly demanding and sometimes the brain just shuts.

That’s something  you may not necessarily be a priority and takes you away from your key priority task but is nevertheless a value-add

So, after reading feedback from my dissertation proposal, I decided to reflect while on some engaging distraction. First, I attended the East Africa Philanthropy Network (EAPN) roundtable with Kenya Editors Guild then later on attended this eye opening and refreshing Research Cafe by Friedrich Nuamann Foundation (FNF).  Well, research discussions are never interesting, and here we were discussing a research-based policy paper on combating charcoal and firewood and the pathways for green energy.  

As a researcher let me just say I was wowed by how easy a read the paper was. One would be forgiven for asking how a research paper ends without an elucidation of the methodology that underpins evidence and robustly anchor recommendations and conclusions, but my take from the cafe is bigger than that.

You see, from EAPN, where I learnt of the great work by the Wangari Maathai Foundation through the legendary environmentalist “Power of One” mantra and the over 300 philanthropic organisations brought together by EAPN, we were privileged again to encounter the manifestation of Power of One.

Keynote speaker at FNF research café was, Wanjira Mathai, Prof Wangari Maathai’s daughter and a luminary thought leader and World resources Institute Managing Director for Africa and Global Partnerships.

Wanjira, who is also the chairperson of Wangari Maathai Foundation literally unpacked everything climate change, environmental conservation and the charcoal burning and trade business conundrum in ten minutes. Her keynote speech was delivered with such finesse and in refreshingly easy to understand fashion.  You see, months ago the President lifted the ban on logging and Kenyans have had different and to a large extent misinformed interpretions of this decree. Maybe informed by political persuasions rather than logic. But listening to Wanjira Mathai, any lay person would see the issue within the broader situation of the context.

There are commercial and conservation forests. Suffice to note is the need for Kenyans to understand that in as much as the legal framework is clear on conservation, commercial forests are there for commercial harvesting of mature trees.

But then as the policy research paper by FNF recommends, a stronger legal and attendant enforcement framework is critical to protect forest conservation. Such a legal framework should also be clear to the public so that unscrupulous dealers don’t take advantage of the commercial forests, naivety of the public and corruption to invade conservation and protected forests.

In a research café that brought together top government officials, key stakeholders and researchers, the engagement was very illuminating.

The robust discussions on the technical aspects of the climate crisis, Government agenda in fighting global warming and the ease with which Wanjira Mathai explained that the problem is not so much about the demonised charcoal and firewood use, but sustainability of the source made for an illuminating experience. Interestingly, studies show that for the next 60 years charcoal use will keep increasing.

The discussion, drawing from this paper authored by Edward Wanyonyi, also underscored the need to speak more to the value chain in the charcoal trade. Whereas the charcoal burner does the bulk of the work the value chain as it is now benefits the broker and cartels. This probably explains why brokers would go the whole hog to circumvent the law and pay illegal loggers and burners as little as Sh800  to cut trees aged 200 years and this must stop.

 — The writer is a PhD candidate in political communication