Residents of the small town of Boame in the southeast of Sool region have began a campaign to protect their land from deforestation and charcoal production. Mohamud Hirsi Farah, a civic official in charge of environmental and wildlife protection, said cutting trees and charcoal production had got out of hand over the past for years.
“We have tried to stop it peacefully several times, but we failed,” Farah told Radio Ergo’s local reporter, who visited the town. Farah said the elders and residents had now joined hands with local police to set ambushes around the sites where charcoal production was going on illegally to arrest the culprits.
“Several people involved in charcoal production are now in prison thanks to the close cooperation with the residents,” said the police chief of Boame, Ahmed Hassan Jama. Radio Ergo’s local reporter said all of those accused of cutting trees illegally are young men. They are yet to appear in court.
Ahmed Muse Yusuf, an advocate for youth welfare in Boame, said the people involving in burning charcoal are unemployed rural youth, who see it as a lucrative trade and their only source of income. “Because they are desperate for earning a livelihood, these young people can’t see the long-term negative impact that cutting trees could have on their life in the future,” said Yusuf.
Most of the population living Boame town are pastoralist communities, whose livestock depend on the pasture and vegetation growing in the surrounding areas. The charcoal burning and deforestation is a direct threat to their livelihoods. “The elders and local administration should think about creating alternative jobs for such desperate young people. That will turn the youth away from charcoal burning,” Yusuf said.
Muhyadin Ahmed Roble
