15 Jan BIOCHAR PLUS project launch

The project BIOCHAR PLUS – Energy, health, agricultural and environmental benefits from biochar use: building capacities in ACP Countries is going to start. The inception meeting will be held in Udine on February 24^th to 26^th . The initiative is supported by the 10^th European Development Fund through the Science and Technology Programme and it is coordinated by the University of Udine (Italy). Starter is part of the partnership, which is composed also by UNIDO (Wien), the African Union (Addis Ababa), ECOWAS-ECREEE (Cape Verde), by the NGOs ASA Initiative (Accra) and CORD SL (Freetown), by the universities of Lomé (Togo), Jimma (Ethiopia) and Bindura (Zimbabwe). With the external support of the Cornell University (USA), the project contributes to improve the capacities of the African countries to take advantage of the biochar technology, which is considered as a promising technology by the scientific community in terms of environmental sustainability. The biochar allows to improve also the energy access of local communities gaining at the same time socio-economic and health benefits thanks to the adoption of pyrolitic stoves. The project lasts 36 months, from February 2014 to January 2017.