Pupils of Agole Primary School in Pabo town council showcasing their briquette making skills during the launch. Photos by Arnest Tumwesige
By Arnest Tumwesige
Amuru: On a bright afternoon, Misiko Lamunu Masako, a pupil at Agole Primary School, leads her peers in a briquette exhibition before reciting a poem titled, Who Is to Be Blamed for Climate Change?
At just 15 years old, Lamunu has already grasped the devastating effects of climate change. From prolonged dry spells hitting 42°C to heavy storms, she believes deforestation is a major contributor to these environmental changes.
As a member of her school’s environmental club, she is among 14 pupils trained in making briquettes (green charcoal) from agricultural waste a practice she hopes will gradually replace firewood and charcoal.
“The materials used to make briquettes are locally available. I plan to start making them when I go home for the holidays,” Lamunu says confidently.
Her training is part of the Unlocking the Potential of Green Charcoal Innovation to Mitigate Climate Change in Northern Uganda (UPCHAIN) Project, which aims to introduce briquette-making skills to communities, targeting leaders, institutions, and the general public.
Pabbo Living Laboratory
In Mission Cell, Layik Ward, Pabo Town Council, Amuru District, the Pabo Living Laboratory has been at the forefront of green energy innovation since its establishment in 2022.
The facility launched recently produces briquettes from agricultural waste, supported by Gulu University in partnership with Danish universities under the Building Strong Universities Project.
Supervised by Gulu University’s Bio-Systems Engineering Department, the plant currently employs 27 youth from the Yele Ber Youth Group in Pabo Town Council.
With a tested production capacity of 1,000 kilograms per day, the facility has the potential to meet high demand. However, awareness remains low, making it difficult to sustain production.
“Our goal is to develop diverse, locally produced technologies that can be adopted across Africa. Many of the machines we import from China are expensive and difficult to maintain due to the unavailability of spare parts,” explains Dr. Collins Okello, Dean of the Faculty of Agriculture at Gulu University.
Uganda’s Deforestation Crisis
Dr. Okello notes that Uganda has lost approximately 250,000 hectares of forest between 2000 and 2015, according to the National Forestry Authority (NFA). Research by Gulu University indicates that Amuru and Adjumani districts alone lost about 20% of their tree cover between 2014 and 2024 due to charcoal production and refugee settlement expansion.
Data from Global Forest Watch further reveals that between 2002 and 2023, Uganda lost 77,100 hectares of humid primary forest, accounting for 7.2% of its total tree cover loss. The total area of humid primary forest in Uganda has decreased by 15% in this period.
A 2023 report by the Ecosystem-Based Adaptation for Food Security Assembly (EBAFOSA) warns that Uganda could lose all its forests within 40 years if deforestation continues at the current rate.
However, the report highlights that waste-to-energy initiatives, such as briquette-making, align with Uganda’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) goals, which aim to reverse deforestation, increase forest cover to 21%, and improve cooking energy efficiency by 40% over traditional methods.
EBAFOSA is Africa’s first inclusive policy framework and implementation platform, bringing together stakeholders to tackle food insecurity, climate change, and ecosystem degradation.
How Briquettes Are Made
Peter Mwa Okot a lecturer at Bio systems engineering said production involves four stages starting with getting the material, subjected it to carbonization in a drum through combustion, reducing the material to small sizes by milling and binding using cassava starch and the final stage is compression.
Currently, the plant has only one drum for carbonization. If five to ten additional drums, daily production could reach one ton. Each kilogram of briquettes sells for UGX 1,000.
Since December last year, over eight tons of briquettes have been produced and sold locally, as well as in Juba, South Sudan and Arua City. One kilogram of briquettes is sufficient to cook a meal for one and a half hours, whereas traditional charcoal would require three times that amount.
Local Leaders Endorse the Project
Richard Kamara Opiro, the LC3 Chairperson of Pabo Town Council, acknowledges the project’s impact.
“When this project started, we had never seen briquettes, but now it is a reality. We commend the government of Denmark for supporting it,” he says.
He points out that since 1996, when people moved into internally displaced persons (IDP) camps, massive deforestation has taken place as people cut trees for firewood and charcoal. He urges charcoal traders to partner with the UPCHAIN project instead of continuing destructive practices.
Amuru District Chairperson Michael Lakony also praises Gulu University for the initiative.
“Pabo has been a major center for the charcoal trade, with even some security personnel involved in the business. During the insurgency, Pabo hosted the largest IDP camp, with a population of 66,000 people. When the camps were decommissioned, there was massive deforestation as people sought firewood, charcoal, and timber,” he explains.
Lakony calls for the project’s extension beyond its scheduled end in January next year, emphasizing the need for additional funding. He also urges policymakers to develop regulations that promote green charcoal as an alternative energy source.
“With the growing refugee population in Uganda, environmental degradation is worsening. Refugees are only provided with food, leaving them to fend for firewood,” he adds.
