Bushblok’s Bold New Look Signals a Bigger Impact for Conservation and Communities

One of the greatest challenges to the cheetah’s survival in the wild is habitat loss. While it is often overshadowed by more visible threats like poaching, habitat degradation, especially in Namibia’s arid landscapes, silently shrinks the spaces cheetahs need to hunt and thrive. Over the past century, the decline of large herbivores like elephants and rhinos, combined with climate change and overgrazing, has led to overgrowth of thorny bushes across millions of hectares. This process, known as bush encroachment, has transformed once-open savannahs into dense thickets, reducing grazing land, constraining water resources, and displacing wildlife.

Bush encroachment now affects over 45 million hectares of Namibia’s rangeland. As the bush grows unchecked, cheetahs are forced into closer proximity to livestock and human settlements. This increases human-wildlife conflict and has even contributed to the illegal wildlife trade. What was once an ecological crisis has become an opportunity for innovation.

For more than two decades, Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF) has led efforts to turn this challenge into a solution. By carefully thinning overgrown areas, CCF restores habitat for cheetahs and other species while improving rangeland productivity for local communities. In 2001, this work led to the creation of Bushblok®, a clean-burning biomass fuel made from invasive thorn bush. Certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC®)(FSC-C004580), Bushblok® not only helps restore habitat but also supports rural employment and reduces reliance on traditional firewood.

Today, Bushblok® has a bold new look. Redesigned packaging and an updated logo reflect the product’s evolution from a local conservation effort into a nationally recognized biomass innovation. The new design highlights Bushblok’s environmental mission and makes it easier than ever for consumers to choose a fuel source that restores ecosystems and supports jobs.

Alongside the refreshed packaging, CCF has introduced Bushblok® Offcuts, an affordable new product line created from irregular cuts and shapes that result from standard production. Offcuts provide the same high-quality fuel at a budget-friendly price. This makes sustainable energy accessible to more households and businesses.

CCF has become a national hub for biomass innovation and plays a pivotal research and development role in Namibia’s fast-growing biomass industry. CCF’s research is always evolving to embrace new technologies. In 2025, CCF partnered with the Namibia Biomass Industry Group (N-BiG), the German Bioenergy Association (BBE), and Namibia’s Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism to pilot Digital Biomass Quantification on its reserve near Otjiwarongo. Using advanced drone and mobile LiDAR technology, researchers collected data from 30 survey plots. This produced 3D landscape models and precise bush biomass measurements. The work is modernizing how Namibia assesses and manages its rangelands while improving both conservation and energy production.

CCF’s biomass technology demonstration efforts are far reaching

They center our habitat restoration and wildlife conservation project in an innovative land management system while creating sustainable fuel sources, livestock feed, and jobs. Bushblok® has become a model for other countries facing similar landscape-wide challenges. Every purchase contributes directly to this mission. Bushblok® helps maintain open landscapes for cheetahs and provides economic opportunities for Namibian communities.

By turning an environmental threat into a renewable resource, Bushblok® shows how science, community-driven solutions, and practical conservation can create a more resilient future for both people and wildlife.