Malawi’s trees

A vital aspect of COP21 is understanding how the world can mitigate against increasing CO2 levels. One way is to reduce reliance on carbon-based energy sources. The other solution is to improve carbon sinks.

Malawi is not a country you hear much about. It is a country which struggles to provide energy to all its population - only 10% are connected to the grid; however, 90% of the electricity generation in Malawi is produced by a very unreliable system of hydroelectric power stations.

Those who do not have electricity depend on firewood. Depend isn't a strong enough word. Malawi has one of the highest deforestation rate globally. This has had massive impacts on the environment: reduced impact of CO2 sinks, soil erosion and reduced soil infiltration. The lack of groundwater recharge promotes surface runoff and increases river discharge, ultimately causing flooding and impacting the reliability of hydroelectric power plants.

Deforestation is highly prevalent (Source)

The solution: more coal. Total emissions of Malawi are predicted to increase by 38% by 2040. But they haven't ignored the INDCs. Mitigation against the coal power plants will include deforestation, increased 'clean' cookstove usage, and increased utilisation of solar (with help from the clean carbon find).

Although this isn't the best way forward (in my opinion), Malawi has a desire to develop. To do this, they need reliable power generation.

The human impacts of deforestation have heavily impacted the potential for renewables. Solar, although very under utilised, has great potential in Malawi. The current decision is simple, wood or coal. Do we save the forests and improve the production and potential of hydroelectric power, or do we continue deforesting regions of Malawi because wood burning has a lower CO2 level than coal?

*This blog will be edited when I get to a computer... I am currently on a plane using my phone, so more links and images will be added later*

Edit: links and images have been added! There is also a short blog series on deforestation in Malawi which might be of interest.