*Inside Somalia’s vicious cycle of deforestation for charcoal.*

Reportedly, al-Shabaab is trying to prohibit cutting trees with leaves, and having some success enforcing the prohibition by burning trucks caught carrying such wood. A democratic government might be able to enforce the rule with less brutality, but this may be better than nothing in the long term.

In a world of growing scarcity, the long-term non-brutal solution is (1) decarbonization and (2) much fewer births.

ISTR that Haiti has suffered for decades from a similar problem; nearly all the forests have been cut down.