Jumbo Charcoal has created more than 200 direct jobs and a further 1,000 indirect jobs for Namibians, while turning invasive bush into an environmentally sustainable product.
Namibia is one of the world’s largest charcoal exporters. The wood comes from bush encroachment: invasive thornbush that thickens across farmland and chokes out grazing. Thinned carefully, it restores rangeland and biodiversity and makes farms more productive. Done badly, it means overharvesting and poor working conditions.
Environmental Compliance Consultancy (ECC) is a Namibian environmental consultancy and the compliance partner for Jumbo Charcoal’s producer group scheme. ECC asked us to make a film that shows what good regulation makes possible: that environmental, forestry and labour standards are not a burden on the industry, but the basis of its future in the global market.
Jumbo was the natural story to tell. It is an authentic Namibian family business that has exported charcoal since 1989, and was the first charcoal company in Namibia certified by both the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and Fairtrade. Its policy is to create as many jobs as possible and to source locally wherever it can. More than 200 Namibians work for Jumbo directly, and a further 1,000 in the wider supply chain.
We followed the supply chain from the bushveld to the export truck: harvesters checking stands against their permits, kiln workers, Fairtrade projects for workers’ families, and the group scheme that gives small producers loans, equipment, fair payment and a shared environmental clearance. The film shows how ECC’s audits keep every farm in the scheme compliant, and makes the case that Namibian charcoal has a strong future when it comes from well-managed, fully regulated farms.
