One aspect of Biochar systems are Cheap, clean biomass stoves that produce biochar and no respiratory disease. At scale, the health benefits are greater than ending Malaria.
A great example;
http://www.unccd.int/publicinfo/poznanclimatetalks/docs/Natural%20Draft%20Stove.pdf

The biochar Fund is also doing amazing work in the developing world;
http://terrapretapot.org/

With the help of 1500 Cameroon Farmers petitioning the UN about recognition of Soil Carbon Sequestration, We may save the planet.

Erich very useful information tha you have shared with us. Thank you. MOngabay this is a great post, I just love to read good things that will help our planet. :)

Congratulations to all the good folks at Biochar Fund. We are watching and praying for very successful results.

I feel sorry for those children
i bet the mothers do not want there kids to live there because so some kids get killed

In order for this project to be successful, its relative profitability must be higher than the current system of slash and burn agriculture including the labor cost of gathering the biomass and spreading it back on the field not to mention the actual cost of its transformation into biochar. A simple "sniff" test of what is involved in Biochar by anyone familiar with the socioeconomics of slash and burn agriculture it is easy to see this will not be competitive. Secondly, the other reason farmers practice migratory slash and burn agriculture is not just soil fertility but also because of rapid build up of weeds after 2-3 years of clearing a forested area, something biochar does not address. Weed build-up over time greatly increases the costs of production and/or significantly decreases yields. I am sorry to say but I am firmly convinced this project does not correspond to socio-economic realities of rural households (e.g. labor constraints in a land abundant environment) and is not competitive with current slash-and-burn agricultural practices in the Congo Basin and therefore is destined to failure. If a legitimate economic analysis has been done that calculates ALL the costs of both systems has been done and shows that the net real benefits of the biochar system are actually better than slash and burn agriculture then I will stand corrected. But please note that land in almost all of the basin at this point is not a constraining factor of production and is essentially costless so returns per hectare are meaningless and carbon payments until they are actually received by the communities are a distant pipe dream. Hope that despite the pessimistic assessment this is somehow helpful.