Biochar: multiple benefits in socio-ecological systems
What if a single material could enrich degraded soils, treat greywater, provide clean energy, remediate contaminated land, and support low-carbon construction?
The International Biochar Initiative (IBI) and the Landscape Alliance – CIFOR & ICRAF invite you to a joint webinar: Biochar: multiple benefits in socio-ecological systems.
Biochar’s real power emerges when we stop treating it as a product and start seeing it as a system. This conversation moves from the landscape scale to the laboratory bench and back again. Dr. Mary Njenga (Landscape Alliance – CIFOR-ICRAF, CGIAR centres), will open with biochar systems and the landscape approach, drawing on years of bioenergy and circular bioeconomy research across Africa. Erick O. Abala (Circular Bionutrient Economy Association, Kenya) wills how a community of practice turns scattered expertise into shared knowledge, local capacity, and policy influence. Dr. Mojgan Hadi Mosleh (The University of Manchester) will take us into the engineering of biochar for environmental protection and low-carbon construction. And Dr. Cecilia Sundberg (Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences), will map the standards and certification schemes shaping what quality, credibility, and carbon integrity actually mean—in Europe and globally.
Whether you work in soil health, water, energy, climate finance, or the built environment, you’ll leave with a wider view of what biochar can do, and of the people and institutions making it happen.
Dr. Mary Njenga is Senior Research Scientist, Bioenergy and Circular Bioeconomy at Landscape Alliance – CIFOR&CRAF of the CGIAR and she is based in Nairobi, Kenya. She lead bioenergy work in Africa in the circular bioeconomy (CBE) transformative partnership platform (TPP) and climate change energy and low carbon development research theme. She co-leads the Refugee Centred programme. She is an Adjunct Faculty with Wangari Maathai Institute for Peace and Environmental Studies, University of Nairobi and an Affiliate Faculty with Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation, Virginia Tech, USA.
Erick O. Abala is the Head of Communications at the Circular Bionutrient Economy Association (CBEA), Kenya. He has background in Corporate Communication and over eight years of experience in strategic communications and storytelling. His work spans the water and sanitation sector and the circular bioeconomy, where he develops compelling narratives that advance sustainable development and stakeholder engagement. He also serves as the Executive Secretary to the CBEA Board, supporting the Association’s governance, strategic communication, and institutional growth.
Dr. Mojgan Hadi Mosleh is an Associate Professor in Geoenvironmental Engineering at The University of Manchester, specialising in sustainable materials, contaminant remediation, and geoenvironmental engineering. Her research focuses on developing innovative biochar-based materials for environmental protection and low-carbon infrastructure.
Cecilia Sundberg is Associate Professor in Bioenergy Systems at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) in Uppsala Sweden. She has been leading research projects on biochar in Sweden and East Africa for 12 years. Cecilia’s research has informed policy development in Sweden and the European Union. She is a Lead Author of the IPCC 2027 Methodology Report on Carbon Dioxide Removal Technologies, Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage.