Niger: Coal the new weapon to stop desert advance

Coal may seem like an unlikely weapon to stop the Sahara advancing, but the Niger government is marketing it as an alternative to firewood in order to save the country's forests and slow desertification. The government is halfway through a year-long campaign to make coal more popular, taking out adverts on television and radio and sending delegations from the Mines and Energy Ministry across the West African nation to talk to local leaders.