CityNews – The Warm Heart Foundation, a local non-profit dedicated to aiding families in poverty and environmental concerns, amongst other concerns, has been awarded The National Energy Globe Award for Thailand for their project “Win-Win with Biochar”.
The creators of the project said they aimed originally to alleviate some of the health issues that many people face during burning season. Biochar, the main component of the initiative, works by creating charcoal from plant matter that can be used to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, thus minimising the harmful health effects of traditional slash-and-burn agriculture. For their report, Warm Heart distributed low-tech biochar machines on a small scale to rural Thai farmers in the hopes of helping the triple bottom line problem of pollution, health, and poverty.
In addition, the foundation has continued its efforts to proliferate the use of biochar, with successful ventures in Mae Cham and Yunnan, China. UNESCO and UNEP, who supported the award, will move on to the global competition, which the Warm Heart Foundation now has a chance to be nominated for. Over 2000 submissions from 178 countries were received in the global competition, and all national awards will be officially announced on June 5, World Environment Day.