Eastern Mediterranean charcoal industry: air pollution prevention

Charcoal production is still considered a polluting industry with a certain impact on global climate change. This traditional practice along the Eastern Mediterranean Sea shoreline exists since the iron age and was industrialized during the Ottoman Empire period, for fueling the Hijaz train engines. The charcoal production continued long after the Hijaz trainline ceased and gradually increased in magnitude, becoming a major environmental and health issue in the last couple of decades. In parallel to the regulatory actions aimed at stopping air pollution, the development of a new type of ecological charcoal production system involved cooperation between Palestinian charcoal manufacturers and Israeli researchers. This combined effort has led to the termination of air pollution through the implementation of the new system and the transformation of the land previously used for charcoal production into farming.