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Charcoal is a vital commodity, used by as much as 80% of the urban population in East Africa as their primary energy source for cooking, and it provides incomes and livelihoods for millions.

But failures to enforce existing regulations and to design better enforcement regimes are a threat to sustainable development. Regulatory blind spots lead to environmental degradation, as trees are unsustainably harvested, and public health costs, linked to indoor pollution. And, as GITOC argues, drawing on new empirical data from Kenya, Uganda and South Sudan, this grey market creates specific corruption, criminality and cartelisation risks.

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