Saving shea: How a Ugandan woman is turning waste into clean energy

Lucy Everlyn Atim, a Ugandan climate activist, founded Moyao Africa Initiative in 2023 to turn shea waste into fuel briquettes. The initiative addresses the destruction of shea trees in northern Uganda, cut down for charcoal production. Uganda loses 122,000 hectares of forest annually, and mature shea populations fell from 20 to 10-15 trees per plot between 2008 and 2017, according to a Makerere University study.