Charcoal consumption could be a very sustainable fuel choice, if the wood consumed was replaced by replanting the deforested areas. However, this does not happen, and shows little sign of happening any time soon. Afforestation projects suffer from pillaging from local poor villagers, who live a hand-to-mouth existence and cannot afford the luxury of long-term planning. The communities living around the Mulanje Mountain Forest Reserve have few alternatives to make money, so they produce charcoal for sale as wood is one of the only resources available to them. Consequently, as a result of their poverty, the over population of the area, and lack of alternative income generating activities, the MMFR suffers considerable deforestation as the communities make charcoal for sale. A significant amount of the charcoal sold arrives in Bangwe, as this is the nearest large population. MMFR is one of the last remaining places in the world where the Mulanje Cedar tree grows, and is an important area of subtropical, medium altitude ecosystems, home to some rare animal species such as Serval Cats and birds.

There is a major human concern which cannot be ignored, however, and that is the problem of cutting off the supply of charcoal to the poor township of Bangwe. The community of Bangwe relies almost exclusively on charcoal for their main domestic energy supply, as electricity is unaffordable to these families on the edge of poverty. Some very poor households spend almost 75% of their daily income on charcoal, not because charcoal is expensive, but because they earn so little. Consequently, if the supply of charcoal was reduced without a similar reduction in demand the sky-rocketing price would be catastrophic for the poorest families in Bangwe.