Experiencia comunitaria en la producción de carbón vegetal: el caso de San Juan Evangelista Analco, Oaxaca, México

Abstract

In Mexico, firewood is the main fuel used in rural areas; In Oaxaca, 100% of rural households consume firewood and charcoal. Inview of the above, in the community of San Juan Evangelista Analco (SJEA) a community forestry company emerged as aninitiative of women to produce good quality charcoal. This represents a measure to seek economic diversification of non-forestproducts, use quality charcoal, improve health, generate jobs and income for families in the community. Currently this initiative has12 women, who maintain the coal company. As a result, they produce more than 20 tons of charcoal per year, in seven ModifiedRabo Quente furnaces. The charcoal obtained from pyrolysis is of very good quality, increasing the calorific power of the charcoaland reducing persistent volatile organic components. It is important to highlight that this type of project requires multi- andtransdisciplinary work to harmonize an environmentally friendly production chain and technological investment, new inputs areidentified to improve working conditions such as a hydraulic splitter and a forklift