Our projects> KjuonGo, a digital revolution for sustainable fuel wood in Cambodia

KjuonGo, a digital revolution for sustainable fuel wood in Cambodia

Closed

Combination

Energy

Forestry

Call 8

Cambodia

Time consumed

Start: 05-Sep-19 End: 31-Aug-22

Lead Nordic partner

UNEP DTU Partnership

Country of Lead Nordic partner

Denmark

Local partner(s)

Khmer Green Charcoal (KGC)

Other partner(s)

GERES

NCF grant size

490,293

Total project cost

667,225

Technologies

Briquettes and pellets

Methods

Agroforestry, Branding/marketing support, Non-timber forest products, Reforestation, Sustainable forest management, Sustainable fuels, Value chain development

Country of implementation:

Cambodia

Open in goole maps

Description

Cambodia is still a country with significant forest cover, but it is under strong pressure due to rapidly growing demand for fuelwood, partly from an expanding textile industry, partly from traditional cooking with charcoal. 77% of fuelwood is considered non-sustainable and 40,000 ha-equivalent of deciduous forest is destroyed annually, felling 3.5 million tonnes of wood-equivalent for the production of about 300,000 tons of unsustainable charcoal.... Cambodia is still a country with significant forest cover, but it is under strong pressure due to rapidly growing demand for fuelwood, partly from an expanding textile industry, partly from traditional cooking with charcoal. 77% of fuelwood is considered non-sustainable and 40,000 ha-equivalent of deciduous forest is destroyed annually, felling 3.5 million tonnes of wood-equivalent for the production of about 300,000 tons of unsustainable charcoal. Phnom Penh consumes 1/3 of the total charcoal production with a supply mainly coming from the Phnom Aural Wildlife Sanctuary and the Central Cardamoms Protected Area, where rural communities become increasingly vulnerable to climate change due to the degradation of their ecosystems.
The KjuonGo project will help reversing the trends by replacing illegal logging with controlled and organized production of sustainable fuel wood in community forests. In collaboration with local communities and existing charcoal producers and not least the existing char briquettes manufacturer and distributor Khmer Sustainable Charcoal (KGC), the KjuonGo project will produce and sell sustainable charcoal in Phnom Penh, displacing the unsustainable supply, and do so even at competitive prices. This is achieved through efficiency gains throughout the value chain, supported by a smartphone based IT system that not only keeps track of the sustainable fuel wood, but also functions as an ordering system for customers. This new convenience is the ultimate selling point for the sustainable alternative to the illegal charcoal.
KjuonGo creates income opportunities in local communities and reverses the increase in climate vulnerability, not only by preventing some of the illegal logging in the rain forest, but also by raising forest on degraded land close to the villages. It directly replaces the illegal charcoal production by including the existing charcoal manufacturers in the value chain.
In the long term, the KjuonGo targets commercial investors and significant upscaling with thousands of hectares replanted for sustainable wood fuel production. Each replanted hectare will absorb 27.5 tCO2 per year according to IPCC calculation standards.
KjuonGo is developed by GERES and KGC in Cambodia together with UNEP DTU Partnership. The KjuonGo IT platform has been supported by UNDP.

Show full description

Objective

The project will establish a functioning value chain for the profitable supply of sustainable charcoal based on reforested community forests. The value chain will be integrated through a smartphone based application, KjuonGo, where all parties to the value chain are linked. Further, it will expand the growth areas for sustainable wood supply by at least 1000 ha based on agreements with investors. The sustainably produced...

Show full description

Results

The KjuonGo project, initiated in September 2019, is focused on establishing a sustainable charcoal value chain as a commercially competitive alternative to charcoal produced from illegally logged wood in Cambodia’s rainforest. Despite severe market and logistical challenges during most of the project implementation period due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the project has achieved the onboarding of 20 community forests for the supply of wood, the...

Show full description

KjuonGo, a digital revolution for sustainable fuel wood in Cambodia

Time consumed

Lead Nordic partner

Country of Lead Nordic partner

Local partner(s)

Other partner(s)

NCF grant size

Total project cost

Technologies

Methods

Country of implementation:

Description

Objective

Results

Sustainable Development Goals

Subscribe to NDF’s newsletter