Abstract:
Miombo woodlands, which comprise the largest proporti
on of the savanna regions of southern Africa, are
central to the livelihood of both rural and urban households
.
Wood fuel is the main source of energy for the
majority of the population, with firewood used
in rural areas and charcoal in urban centres.
Indigenous
commercial production of charcoal, using earth mound k
ilns, utilises about 42 tree species, a higher number
than for any other uses. Over 56% of the trees
harvested within communal lands (ranging between 2.4 and
68.6 cm dbh) were felled for charcoal. The apparent profit
in charcoal production is attributable to very low
capital outlays, "free" own labour, "free raw materials"
, lack of concern about associated external costs, high
demand for charcoal and lack of alternative income-generating
activities. Cutting of tr
ees for charcoal implies
an opportunity cost as the trees may have been used fo
r other purposes such as timber, construction,
medicine, firewood and food.
Miombo woodlands also perform vital ecosystem serv
ices such as carbon sequestration, nutrient
cycling and watershed protection. The estimated
local wood consumption for charcoal of 6.01 m
3
capita
-1
year
-1
is very high compared to subsistenc
e firewood consumption of only 1.3 m
3
capita
-1
year
-1
. The area
cleared for charcoal production locally was about 1 671 ha year
-1
which is about 10% of the accessible area
within local communal lands. This shows that al
though commercialisation of wood resources provides
tangible monetary benefits to rural communities, it also contributes to environmental degradation that will
ultimately threaten their long-term survival.
