Birdwatch News Archive African Finfoot is one of the species
threatened by the loss of habitat to charcoal burning, but it
will also have along term effect on Somalia's human population.
Photo: Paul Cools (commons.wikimedia.org). Charcoal burning
destroying Somalian habitat Posted on: 21 Dec 2012 Despite a
long-term ban on exports of charcoal, Somalia is still burning
its forests, with a population believing that it has no economic
choice. When African Union Mission in Somalia (Amisom) forces
took control of the port city of Kismayo in Southern Somalia in
September, they found an estimated four million sacks of
charcoal waiting to be exported. A further four million sacks
were stockpiled in and around the city, and at the village of
Buur Gabo near the Kenyan border. Much of the charcoal going out
of Kismayo is believed to have come from the Jubba valley, part
of an Endemic Bird Area (EBA) shared between Somalia and
Ethiopia, which includes six Important Bird Areas (IBAs) on the
Somali side of the border, say