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Climate Action Thailand Project #39391

Stop the Smoke - Reduce Global Warming

by Warm Heart Worldwide, Inc

Project Report | Nov 1, 2024
Looking Forward, Adding Capacity to Stop the Smoke

By Evelind Schecter | Program Leader

Trough provided by Warm Heart

The annual summer rains are slowing and mountain villages around Chiang Mai are recovering from the flood waters. Phrao rice fields were flooded but the orchards were spared.

Our Biochar team managed to keep making biochar from the Longan orchard pruning as the crop was harvested, to avoid open field burning of the branches and leaves.

In our local program, we move from farm to farm and process the biochar, giving it to the farmer to use around the trees and share with other farmers with less feedstock. This season, the team in Phrao District has made and applied over 200 Tonnes of biochar, sequestering 400 Tonnes of carbon.

We’re looking ahead for ways to expand production and ensure we minimize any emissions from greenhouse gases. In that regard, we have contracted to test 2 machines, starting in January. Wastex has been certified by Carbon Standards International to produce these small industrial kilns with a closed-loop system for making biochar.

Every day, individual smallholder Artisan biochar farmers are making a difference in our atmosphere as they stop open-field burning. The new small industrial equipment will expand our capacity and provide an alternate model when individual farmers are not making their own biochar but are happy to use it to renew their soils.

Following up on new advocates of biochar, Hilltribe Organics posted its first photos of the biochar it made in a trough, after the Warm Heart training. "Celebrating the first biochar at Hilltribe Organics. Biochar production is a crucial element of the Regenerative Organics Valley project. Leftovers from corn, our major chicken feed, are burnt in a Kontiki pyrolysis process. The resulting biochar will be used to produce organic fertilizer, together with chicken manure, and returned to corn farmers in the area completing a circular agricultural model."

In the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Warm Heart team is dodging bullets from rebel forces, getting vaccines against monkeypox, and all the while training farmers to make and use biochar.

They have provided rabbits that multiply rapidly as a food source, added hand-made biochar briquettes to avoid cutting firewood, and many other uses for biochar. See the photo of the goats enjoying a salt lick with biochar to aid their digestion.

We’ll keep you posted as our equipment arrives and we continue to train in Africa and Thailand.

Thank you for your continuing support as our program continues and evolves.

Dana, Michael, Evelind, and the Biochar Team

Wastex machine for biochar production

Handmade biochar briquettes in the DRC

Goats love the salt lick with biochar n the DRC

Our Wastex machine being fabricated

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Jul 4, 2024
Expanding the Biochar Network of Producers

By Evelind Schecter | Program Leader

Aom training new farmers

As we continue to seek sustainable solutions to reduce open-field burning in Thailand and across Asia, our efforts have recently centered around the promotion and production of biochar. As demand increases, there will be less open field burning and less smoke in the region, fewer chemicals in the food chain, and improved crop yields.

Biochar Academy in Chiang Mai
In collaboration with the International Biochar Initiative and ECHO Asia, Warm Heart co-sponsored a week-long Biochar Training Academy from May 5-11 at ECHO’s conference center in Chiang Mai. This event brought together participants from across Asia and Africa, aiming to extend our network and foster additional biochar production initiatives in Thailand. Some of the highlights:

Sharing of projects from Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia: Bamboo waste into biochar in Thailand, Rice husks to fertilizer in Cambodia, Industrial designs for kilns in the Philippines,
We had a tour of the Chiang Mai University project to improve road safety with biochar. Planting vegetation with biochar in the steep hillsides of Phuket has stopped erosion with a nature-based solution. The increased use of biochar in asphalt has acceptance by the government and is being road-tested.
One local farmer is doing intensive production on a small plot of land with biochar mixed into his organic fertilizer. A simple app on his phone lets him minimize water usage for watering the crops.

Production and training in Phrao and Mae Chaem
In Phrao, our biochar production in 2023 from longan tree pruning successfully averted over five hundred tons of CO2, with the production of three hundred tons of biochar and we will do at least that much this year.

Aom has been working on efficiency and productivity improvements in the biochar production process. She has also been training new groups of farmers interested in making and using biochar in Phrao and Chiang Dao.

In Mae Chaem, farmers have been producing biochar and compost from corn waste. This keeps the huge mountains of corn water from rotting or being burned, both processes which produce greenhouse gases.

Encouraging Biochar in Nigeria
In June, Michael embarked on a training mission for the Afri-Decarbonization Company (ADC) in Calabar, Cross River State, Nigeria. Despite initial delays due to visa issues, Michael conducted three-day training courses for a diverse audience, including local officials, University of Calabar administrators, faculty, and students, as well as large groups of farmers and representatives from eight Local Government Areas.

During his mission, Michael met with key stakeholders, including the Secretary to the Governor of Cross River State (the Permanent Secretary) and the Acting and Serving Presidents of the University of Cross River. A significant outcome of this mission was the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between ADC and the University, which ensures comprehensive university support for the ADC program.

Thank You

Your unwavering support has been the backbone of our success. We are deeply grateful for your contributions and belief in our mission. Together, we are creating a healthier environment and empowering farmers with sustainable practices.

Best wishes for a productive and safe summer!

Dana, Michael, Evelind, and the Biochar Teams

CMU Biochar Project- Erosion control and asphalt

Intensive farming with simple tech

Biochar Academy Banner

Diverse group will spread the biochar story

Michael at Crossroads, Calabar, Nigeria

Links:

UNICROSS Partnership For Food Security, Improved Farmer QOL

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Mar 5, 2024
New Paths to Expand Biochar Adoption in Thailand

By Evelind Schecter | Project leader

Rice farmer adding biochar to paddy

It's the smokey season in Chaing Mai and the haze has arrived. The air quality is still bearable with the burning ban showing some impact.

At Warm Heart, we have permission to make small amounts of biochar for testing. Aom has been working on capturing data from local feedstocks to confirm that we align with some recent studies on the expected efficiency of production methods. This is part of a larger effort to find ways to expand biochar production in Thailand.

We have also been looking at low-tech solutions to produce higher volumes of biochar. Several organizations are looking at industrial-level units to encourage large-scale farms to pyrolyze their waste instead of burning it.

Our lead farmer has been working with orchard owners to make biochar once the annual tree pruning is done. This biochar is used on organic farms and in orchards for water retention. We would like to develop some higher efficiency designs but still be portable.

In Thailand, the government, universities, and a range of private organizations have reached out to us because they are interested in utilizing biochar for more than just agricultural purposes. For example, Chiang Mai University has a pilot project to test biochar in asphalt as a substitute for scarce raw materials.

The International Biochar initiative is co-sponsoring a Biochar Training Workshop May 5-11 with ECHO Asia and Warm Heart at the Echo training farm in Chiang Mai. This is bringing an audience from Thailand, Laos, and other SE Asian countries for an in-depth workshop so that they can go back to their communities to spread awareness of the benefits of making Biochar.

Thank you for your enduring support of our work!

Warm regards,

Dana, Michael, Evelind, and the Biochar Teams

Current biochar trough for branches

Chiang Mai University Testing Biochar in Asphalt

Biochar for water retention in orchard crops

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