The Experts below are selected from a list of 312 Experts worldwide ranked by ideXlab platform
Wayne Twine - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
-
a tale of two villages assessing the dynamics of Fuelwood supply in communal landscapes in south africa
Environmental Conservation, 2013Co-Authors: Ruwadzano Matsika, Barend F N Erasmus, Wayne TwineAbstract:SUMMARY Fuelwood is the dominant source of energy used by most rural households in southern Africa to meet daily domestic energy requirements. Due to limited financial resources, most rural households are unable to make the transition to electricity thus they remain dependant on the woodlands surrounding their settlements as a source of cheap energy. Unsustainable Fuelwood harvesting due to increasing demand as a result of growing human populations may result in environmental degradation particularly in the high-density, communal savannah woodlands of South Africa. Evaluating the sustainability of current Fuelwood harvesting patterns requires an understanding of the environmental impacts of past logging practices to establish patterns of woodland degradation. This study evaluates impacts of Fuelwood harvesting from 1992‐2009 on the woodland structure and species composition surrounding two rural villages located within the Kruger to Canyons Biosphere Reserve (Mpumalanga Province, South Africa). Both villages (Welverdiend and Athol) were of similar spatial extent and exhibited similar socioeconomic characteristics. The total wood stock in the communal woodlands of both villages declined overall(withgreaterlossesseeninWelverdiend)and,in Welverdiend, there were also changes in the woodland structureandspeciesdiversityofthespeciescommonly harvestedforFuelwoodoverthisperiod.Thewoodlands in Welverdiend have become degraded and no longer produce Fuelwood of preferred species and stem size in sufficient quantity or quality. The absence of similar negative impacts in Athol suggests more sustainable harvesting regimes exist there because of the lower human population and lower Fuelwood extraction pressure. The Welverdiend community has annexed neighbouring unoccupied private land in a social response to Fuelwood scarcity. Athol residents behaved similarly during drought periods. The potential for future conflict with neighbouring conservation areas within the Kruger to Canyons Biosphere is high if
-
unsustainable Fuelwood extraction from south african savannas
Environmental Research Letters, 2013Co-Authors: K J Wessels, Matthew S Colgan, Barend F N Erasmus, Gregory P Asner, Wayne Twine, Renaud Mathieu, J A N Van Aardt, Jolene T Fisher, Izak P J SmitAbstract:Wood and charcoal supply the majority of sub-Saharan Africa’s rural energy needs. The long-term supply of Fuelwood is in jeopardy given high consumption rates. Using airborne light detection and ranging (LiDAR), we mapped and investigated savanna aboveground biomass across contrasting land uses, ranging from densely populated communal areas to highly protected areas in the Lowveld savannas of South Africa. We combined the LiDAR observations with socio-economic data, biomass production rates and Fuelwood consumption rates in a supply‐demand model to predict future Fuelwood availability. LiDAR-based biomass maps revealed disturbance gradients around settlements up to 1.5 km, corresponding to the maximum distance walked to collect Fuelwood. At current levels of Fuelwood consumption (67% of households use Fuelwood exclusively, with a 2% annual reduction), we calculate that biomass in the study area will be exhausted within thirteen years. We also show that it will require a 15% annual reduction in consumption for eight years to a level of 20% of households using Fuelwood before the reduction in biomass appears to stabilize to sustainable levels. The severity of dwindling Fuelwood reserves in African savannas underscores the importance of providing affordable energy for rural economic development.
-
double jeopardy the dichotomy of Fuelwood use in rural south africa
Energy Policy, 2013Co-Authors: R Matsika, Barend F N Erasmus, Wayne TwineAbstract:Energy security is central to achieving sustainable development and reducing poverty worldwide. Over 70% of the population of Sub-Saharan Africa, mostly in the rural areas, depend on wood fuel, as firewood or charcoal, to meet their primary domestic energy requirements. This dependence is projected to increase with population growth in the intermediate future, regardless of the implementation of rural electrification programmes.. Fuelwood shortages occur at the localised village level and are a chronic landscape syndrome, becoming more severe over time, with increasing population pressures and competing land-uses. In the South African context, the provision of electricity to rural households at subsidised rates would be expected to provide a viable alternative to Fuelwood under conditions of scarcity. This paper compares the Fuelwood consumption strategies of households in a Fuelwood-scarce environment against those in Fuelwood-abundant environment in order to illustrate the inelastic nature of the demand for Fuelwood in rural communities, even in the face of severely depleted wood stocks. We seek to understand the mechanisms that households implement to ensure household Fuelwood/energy security and how these responses aggregate at the landscape level to shape landscape dynamics. This will aid better planning of intervention policies in the future.
Barend F N Erasmus - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
-
a tale of two villages assessing the dynamics of Fuelwood supply in communal landscapes in south africa
Environmental Conservation, 2013Co-Authors: Ruwadzano Matsika, Barend F N Erasmus, Wayne TwineAbstract:SUMMARY Fuelwood is the dominant source of energy used by most rural households in southern Africa to meet daily domestic energy requirements. Due to limited financial resources, most rural households are unable to make the transition to electricity thus they remain dependant on the woodlands surrounding their settlements as a source of cheap energy. Unsustainable Fuelwood harvesting due to increasing demand as a result of growing human populations may result in environmental degradation particularly in the high-density, communal savannah woodlands of South Africa. Evaluating the sustainability of current Fuelwood harvesting patterns requires an understanding of the environmental impacts of past logging practices to establish patterns of woodland degradation. This study evaluates impacts of Fuelwood harvesting from 1992‐2009 on the woodland structure and species composition surrounding two rural villages located within the Kruger to Canyons Biosphere Reserve (Mpumalanga Province, South Africa). Both villages (Welverdiend and Athol) were of similar spatial extent and exhibited similar socioeconomic characteristics. The total wood stock in the communal woodlands of both villages declined overall(withgreaterlossesseeninWelverdiend)and,in Welverdiend, there were also changes in the woodland structureandspeciesdiversityofthespeciescommonly harvestedforFuelwoodoverthisperiod.Thewoodlands in Welverdiend have become degraded and no longer produce Fuelwood of preferred species and stem size in sufficient quantity or quality. The absence of similar negative impacts in Athol suggests more sustainable harvesting regimes exist there because of the lower human population and lower Fuelwood extraction pressure. The Welverdiend community has annexed neighbouring unoccupied private land in a social response to Fuelwood scarcity. Athol residents behaved similarly during drought periods. The potential for future conflict with neighbouring conservation areas within the Kruger to Canyons Biosphere is high if
-
unsustainable Fuelwood extraction from south african savannas
Environmental Research Letters, 2013Co-Authors: K J Wessels, Matthew S Colgan, Barend F N Erasmus, Gregory P Asner, Wayne Twine, Renaud Mathieu, J A N Van Aardt, Jolene T Fisher, Izak P J SmitAbstract:Wood and charcoal supply the majority of sub-Saharan Africa’s rural energy needs. The long-term supply of Fuelwood is in jeopardy given high consumption rates. Using airborne light detection and ranging (LiDAR), we mapped and investigated savanna aboveground biomass across contrasting land uses, ranging from densely populated communal areas to highly protected areas in the Lowveld savannas of South Africa. We combined the LiDAR observations with socio-economic data, biomass production rates and Fuelwood consumption rates in a supply‐demand model to predict future Fuelwood availability. LiDAR-based biomass maps revealed disturbance gradients around settlements up to 1.5 km, corresponding to the maximum distance walked to collect Fuelwood. At current levels of Fuelwood consumption (67% of households use Fuelwood exclusively, with a 2% annual reduction), we calculate that biomass in the study area will be exhausted within thirteen years. We also show that it will require a 15% annual reduction in consumption for eight years to a level of 20% of households using Fuelwood before the reduction in biomass appears to stabilize to sustainable levels. The severity of dwindling Fuelwood reserves in African savannas underscores the importance of providing affordable energy for rural economic development.
-
double jeopardy the dichotomy of Fuelwood use in rural south africa
Energy Policy, 2013Co-Authors: R Matsika, Barend F N Erasmus, Wayne TwineAbstract:Energy security is central to achieving sustainable development and reducing poverty worldwide. Over 70% of the population of Sub-Saharan Africa, mostly in the rural areas, depend on wood fuel, as firewood or charcoal, to meet their primary domestic energy requirements. This dependence is projected to increase with population growth in the intermediate future, regardless of the implementation of rural electrification programmes.. Fuelwood shortages occur at the localised village level and are a chronic landscape syndrome, becoming more severe over time, with increasing population pressures and competing land-uses. In the South African context, the provision of electricity to rural households at subsidised rates would be expected to provide a viable alternative to Fuelwood under conditions of scarcity. This paper compares the Fuelwood consumption strategies of households in a Fuelwood-scarce environment against those in Fuelwood-abundant environment in order to illustrate the inelastic nature of the demand for Fuelwood in rural communities, even in the face of severely depleted wood stocks. We seek to understand the mechanisms that households implement to ensure household Fuelwood/energy security and how these responses aggregate at the landscape level to shape landscape dynamics. This will aid better planning of intervention policies in the future.
Charlie M Shackleton - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
-
household Fuelwood use in small electrified towns of the makana district eastern cape south africa
Journal of Energy in Southern Africa, 2017Co-Authors: Charlie M Shackleton, James Gambiza, R JonesAbstract:Access to secure energy supplies is a key foundation for sustainable development. Consequently local planning and development initiatives must be based on a sound knowledge of the energy use patterns and preferences of local users. This paper reports on such for three small urban settlements in the Eastern Cape Province, with a particular focus on Fuelwood use. Despite widespread electrification over a decade ago, and perceptions that the ease of Fuelwood collection was declining, most households continued to use Fuelwood for cooking and space heating, whereas electricity was favoured for light-ing. The most common reason for this was because Fuelwood was cheap (or free) compared to electric-ity. Annual demand was approximately 1 450 kg per household per year. Households that collected their own supplies of Fuelwood were significantly poorer than those that either bought their stocks, or those that did not use Fuelwood at all. Indigenous species were favoured over exotic species, although Fuelwood vendors traded mostly in exotic species, particularly Eucalyptus and wattle. The greater reliance of poorer and unelectrified households on Fuelwood requires that local authorities consider this in energy planning, otherwise the poor will be neg-lected in policies such as the Free Basic Electricity.
-
changes in Fuelwood use and selection following electrification in the bushbuckridge lowveld south africa
Journal of Environmental Management, 2007Co-Authors: M Madubansi, Charlie M ShackletonAbstract:Fuelwood is the primary energy source for domestic purposes throughout the developing world, in both urban and rural environments. Due to the detrimental impacts of biomass use on human and environmental health, many governments have sought to reduce its use through provision of potentially cleaner energies, of which electricity is the dominant form. Yet there are surprisingly few studies of changes in Fuelwood use following the introduction of electricity, especially in rural areas of Africa. This paper reports on a longitudinal study of Fuelwood use, using identical approaches, in five rural villages in the Bushbuckridge region of South Africa, spanning the period over which electricity became widely available. Almost a decade after the introduction of electricity, over 90% of households still used Fuelwood for thermal purposes, especially cooking, and the mean household consumption rates over the 11-year period had not changed, even with a policy of 6 kWh per month of free electricity. The proportion of households purchasing Fuelwood had increased, probably in response to a number of factors, including (i) increased Fuelwood scarcity in the local environment as reflected by increased Fuelwood collection times, changes in Fuelwood species preferences, and ranking of scarcity by local collectors, and (ii) increases in the price of Fuelwood well below that of other fuels and the prevailing inflation rate. Overall, there was an increase in the number of species harvested over the 11-year period. The implications of these findings for rural energy provision are discussed.
-
the Fuelwood crisis in southern africa relating Fuelwood use to livelihoods in a rural village
GeoJournal, 2004Co-Authors: Delali B K Dovie, E T F Witkowski, Charlie M ShackletonAbstract:The aim of the paper is to examine wood as a source of fuel energy in rural South Africa and factors influencing its usage. The analysis is based on household profiles and characteristics (e.g., gender, caste, population and income) in a livelihood framework. Fuelwood consumption was estimated to be 692 kg/capita, and 4343 kg/user household per annum, valued at $311 per household. Consumption was modelled in relation to informal and formal cash incomes, and population of children, female and male adults. However, only the population of female adults could significantly influence consumption of Fuelwood. This implied that where there were more women in a household, consumption was likely to be high. This might be due to the majority of women doing the cooking and heating in the household. Any change in the value of cash income of households had no significant impacts on Fuelwood consumed. Cash incomes might therefore not be strong determinants of the types of energy used by rural households. The average quantity of wood consumed for fuel energy in summer was not significantly different from consumption in winter. Some households perpetually used more wood than others. The study further showed that harvesting of wood for fuel energy is not opportunistic, but requires reallocation of time for other livelihood activities in times of shortage. The Fuelwood crisis is not simple and not only about shortage of Fuelwood and/or population growth but linked to household profiles and other livelihood strategies and subsequently vulnerability of households. These would require thorough investigation and understanding in relation to precise demand and supply data for Fuelwood before the Fuelwood problem can be sufficiently managed.
-
The Fuelwood Crisis in Southern Africa — Relating Fuelwood Use to Livelihoods in a Rural Village
GeoJournal, 2004Co-Authors: Delali B K Dovie, E T F Witkowski, Charlie M ShackletonAbstract:The aim of the paper is to examine wood as a source of fuel energy in rural South Africa and factors influencing its usage. The analysis is based on household profiles and characteristics (e.g., gender, caste, population and income) in a livelihood framework. Fuelwood consumption was estimated to be 692 kg/capita, and 4343 kg/user household per annum, valued at $311 per household. Consumption was modelled in relation to informal and formal cash incomes, and population of children, female and male adults. However, only the population of female adults could significantly influence consumption of Fuelwood. This implied that where there were more women in a household, consumption was likely to be high. This might be due to the majority of women doing the cooking and heating in the household. Any change in the value of cash income of households had no significant impacts on Fuelwood consumed. Cash incomes might therefore not be strong determinants of the types of energy used by rural households. The average quantity of wood consumed for fuel energy in summer was not significantly different from consumption in winter. Some households perpetually used more wood than others. The study further showed that harvesting of wood for fuel energy is not opportunistic, but requires reallocation of time for other livelihood activities in times of shortage. The Fuelwood crisis is not simple and not only about shortage of Fuelwood and/or population growth but linked to household profiles and other livelihood strategies and subsequently vulnerability of households. These would require thorough investigation and understanding in relation to precise demand and supply data for Fuelwood before the Fuelwood problem can be sufficiently managed.
Julia Berazneva - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
-
Fuelwood Source Substitution and Shadow Prices in Western Kenya
2020Co-Authors: David M A Murphy, Julia BeraznevaAbstract:Deforestation in Sub-Saharan Africa remains a substantial problem. Increasing scarcity of Fuelwood can be significant burden to households, as Fuelwood is a key component of the energy profile of a rural Sub-Saharan household. However, households do not only collect their Fuelwood from off-farm, but also produce it on-farm and purchase it from the market. This paper studies substitution between Fuelwood sources for rural Kenyan households. Conducting analysis using shadow prices for household Fuelwood in a non-separable theoretical framework, we find that strict gender divisions in household labor contribute to a lack of substitution between Fuelwood sources. Because Fuelwood production on the farm is more sustainable than off-farm collection, gender divisions inhibit reforestation efforts in this area. This paper finds a direct linkage between women and environmental well-being, and concludes that reforestation efforts in SSA will likely be ineffective until labor substitution between genders increase.
-
Fuelwood source substitution gender and shadow prices in western kenya
Environment and Development Economics, 2018Co-Authors: David M A Murphy, Julia BeraznevaAbstract:Fuelwood scarcity creates a widespread environmental problem that places a major burden on women and children in the rural areas of developing countries. Consequently, many governments, donors and non-governmental organizations have encouraged on-farm Fuelwood production and agroforestry practices. Whether, however, Fuelwood from different sources can be easily substituted is an important empirical question as the degree of substitutability can depend on local markets and households' resource endowments and incomes. In this paper, we examine the substitution between three Fuelwood sources among rural households in western Kenya: Fuelwood collected off-farm, Fuelwood produced on-farm, and that which is purchased. Using household-specific shadow prices for Fuelwood and male and female wages, we find that strict gender divisions in household labor result in limited substitution between Fuelwood sources. Among the implications are that programs and policies promoting agroforestry will have limited success without first addressing the structural differences in labor markets.
K J Wessels - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
-
unsustainable Fuelwood extraction from south african savannas
Environmental Research Letters, 2013Co-Authors: K J Wessels, Matthew S Colgan, Barend F N Erasmus, Gregory P Asner, Wayne Twine, Renaud Mathieu, J A N Van Aardt, Jolene T Fisher, Izak P J SmitAbstract:Wood and charcoal supply the majority of sub-Saharan Africa’s rural energy needs. The long-term supply of Fuelwood is in jeopardy given high consumption rates. Using airborne light detection and ranging (LiDAR), we mapped and investigated savanna aboveground biomass across contrasting land uses, ranging from densely populated communal areas to highly protected areas in the Lowveld savannas of South Africa. We combined the LiDAR observations with socio-economic data, biomass production rates and Fuelwood consumption rates in a supply‐demand model to predict future Fuelwood availability. LiDAR-based biomass maps revealed disturbance gradients around settlements up to 1.5 km, corresponding to the maximum distance walked to collect Fuelwood. At current levels of Fuelwood consumption (67% of households use Fuelwood exclusively, with a 2% annual reduction), we calculate that biomass in the study area will be exhausted within thirteen years. We also show that it will require a 15% annual reduction in consumption for eight years to a level of 20% of households using Fuelwood before the reduction in biomass appears to stabilize to sustainable levels. The severity of dwindling Fuelwood reserves in African savannas underscores the importance of providing affordable energy for rural economic development.
-
Impacts of communal Fuelwood extraction on LiDAR-estimated biomass patterns of savanna woodlands
2012 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium, 2012Co-Authors: K J Wessels, J A N Van Aardt, B.f.n. Erasmus, M. Colgan, G.p. Asner, R. Mathieu, W. Twine, I. SmitAbstract:This study investigated the biomass patterns and sustainability of Fuelwood extraction in the Lowveld of South Africa, where rural households are highly dependent on Fuelwood from savannas. The objectives of this study were (i) to compare LiDAR-derived biomass between communal areas and references sites in conservation areas, and (ii) to investigate the sustainability of various future scenarios of Fuelwood consumption, using a village-specific, supply-and-demand model based on biomass maps and socio-economic data. On granitic substrates the communal rangelands had an average of 12 ton/ha, which is less than half the biomass of the conservation sites. Under the current rate Fuelwood consumption, i.e. 67% of households using Fuelwood exclusively at an average of 3.5 ton per household per year, all biomass in the investigated site would be depleted within twelve years. Therefore, policies and interventions that promote the diversification of affordable energy alternatives and rural economic development are desperately needed.
