How old oil drums can be used to protect the climate, create food security plus prosperity and save the grey-crowned crane from extinction at the same time – we have already started to do this at Lake Ol Bolossat in Kenya
The C2C kiln (carbonizer) is made of old oil drums. You can build it anywhere in the world. One morning. Without any previous knowledge.
This kiln can be used to turn dried aquatic plants, such as water hyacinths or water fern (Salvinia molesta) into biochar. By everyone. Without any previous education. With a morning of introduction and training.
Climate
Aquatic plants are spreading more and more in tropical waters because there are more and more nutrients in the water. Lack of sewage treatment plants and soil erosion are the two main causes. They die every year, sink to the bottom and are digested there by bacteria. This produces huge amounts of methane. Methane is a greenhouse gas, 87 times more effective than CO2. And the aquatic plants get CO2 out of the air as they grow. We bind 20-40% of this with biochar.
Food security and prosperity
The biochar that we make from the aquatic plants is an excellent soil conditioner. With 1 kg of biochar on 1 square meter of infertile tropical soil, we improve fertility for the next 1,000 years. Biochar has a large surface area. Nutrients and water are bound there and are available for plant growth. Our own results and results from friends show that we can double the harvest yields up to sevenfold(!). The local people can do all this on their own. With old oil drums and some training.
Grey-crowned crane
Lake Ol Bolossat in Kenya is the most important habitat for the Grey-crowned Crane. Our local partners, Cranes Conservation Volunteers (CCV), have managed to increase the survival rate of the young birds tenfold. Then came Salvinia molesta. The water fern has displaced the reeds. There is no longer any protection for the breeding parent birds and the young birds. The breeding success has plummeted.
The Solution
The people at the lake will fish the salvinia, dry it and turn it into biochar. Then there is room for the reeds again. The biochar is used to improve the gardens and increase harvests. This provides food security. Compost from Salvinia mixed with biochar from Salvinia becomes a sales product for people. That brings prosperity. See for yourself!
We, C2C, CCV and the local people, have already done all this. Tested. Improved. Cultivation trials. Everything that goes with it to prove that the processes work.
Next step
C2C raises money so that CCV can expand and promote the project with the local people.
