WOODFUEL MARKETS IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
Woodfuel Markets in Developing Countries
A case study of Tanzania
Jill Boberg
First published 2000 by Ashgate Publishing
Reissued 2018 by Routledge
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Copyright Jill Boberg 2000
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A Library of Congress record exists under LC control number: 99073643
ISBN 13:978-1-138-71368-0 (hbk)
ISBN 13: 978-1-315-19832-3 (ebk)
The study on which this work is based was part of a larger project undertaken in Tanzania in 1990-1991. The Stockholm Environment Institute and SIDA generously funded the Tanzania Urban Energy Project. Thanks to SEI's Lars Kristofferson and Sven Svenson for their help and guidance, and to Gordon McGranahan for his advice and ideas, particularly at the early stages of the formulation of the surveys and survey methodology.
The energetic director and author of the Tanzania Urban Energy Project, and my advisor, supporter, and intellectual guide was Richard Hosier. My grateful thanks go out to him for his generous support over the years, and his inspired captainship of the project through the usual potholes of international work (not to mention the roads of Dar es Salaam!). I also thank him for his patience with me and his ideas and editing which contributed so much to the work. I also thank Amy Hosier for editing help, and for laughs and commiseration during and after our stay in Tanzania. On On!
Many thanks also go out to the other leaders and conceivers of the Tanzania Urban Energy Project, Dr Mark Mwandosya and Dr Matthew Luhanga for the time they spent and support they gave to the project despite their many other duties.
Particular thanks go out to my friends and colleagues, Wilfred Kipondya and Theofilo Bwakea. They welcomed me to the country, were generous with their friendship as well as their hard work, and were instrumental in the success of my study and the project as a whole. Many other Tanzanian colleagues, too numerous to name, were a great help to my work. These include in particular the wonderful group of enumerators who accompanied me to the rural and urban reaches of Tanzania. They kept us laughing constantly, introduced me to the diverse cultures of the areas we were visiting (always looking for the best local brew and the cleanest guest house!), and were uncomplaining as I pushed them to meet deadlines and budget constraints. Thanks, guys!
Woodfuel, People and the Environment
There has been much written about the environmental problems which face developing countries. In a world newly awakened to the potential problems threatened by pollution, ozone depletion, and deforestation, developing countries are being drawn increasingly into the limelight. In Africa, the focus is on deforestation. The effects of the removal of vegetative cover from African lands vary from soil loss and lower agricultural productivity to watershed destruction and global climate effects. The destructive exploitation of forests in Africa takes a toll economically, socially and environmentally. At the local level, these effects of forest destruction translate into lowered incomes in the agricultural sector and a reduced standard of living. When the environmental effects of deforestation are combined with the acute economic problems suffered by most African countries, sustained poverty and human suffering are the logical outcomes.
Despite this negative forecast, such dire results are not inevitable. The challenge of stemming the environmental degradation and the declining living standards of people in African countries is one that can be met with knowledge and action. One of the areas in which such knowledge and action is needed is energy, and more specifically, energy from woodfuels. This is the area on which this study is focused.
There are good reasons to concentrate on woodfuels when exploring deforestation in Africa. Along with the extension of agriculture, the logging of trees for timber, and the overgrazing of cattle, one of the oft-cited causes of tropical deforestation in Africa is the cutting of trees for woodfuel.obtaining woodfuel increases, adding hardship to the lives of great numbers of people. In rural areas, the time spent collecting fuel increases with increased deforestation. Likewise, in cities the price of woodfuels increases when the cost of their supply grows as deforestation requires suppliers to go further afield to obtain the woodfuel.
Woodfuels (firewood and charcoal) are the major source of energy for most Africans, since they often have insufficient resources for or little access to alternative fuels, in particular electricity and petroleum-based fuels. Woodfuels supply anywhere from 50 per cent to 95 per cent of the total energy consumed in sub-Saharan African countries, with its dominance particularly acute in the household sector. This dependence on woodfuel means that the potential effects of deforestation as it relates to the provision of woodfuel for energy can be enormous. As always, the effects will strike most deeply at the poor.
Increased urbanization has led to increased concern over the effects of and problems associated with urban fuelwood use. The largest concentration of energy users is in the urban areas. Urban users, while generally having a choice of fuels, nonetheless often prefer fuelwood even when prices of fuelwood are higher than those of alternative fuels. Security of supply, small, affordable quantities, and the absence of a large initial investment in a cooking stove are all qualities of woodfuel use which influence users' preference for those fuels.
The price at which woodfuel is sold impacts consumers by determining the level of energy use they can afford, and hence their standard of living. Prices also affect a consumer's choice of fuels. This choice in turn impacts the environment by affecting the amount of wood that is harvested. Because woodfuel prices are communicated to the urban users by way of the market, and because users make their choices of the form and quantity of their energy use in response to price signals, the effectiveness of the market as a medium for transmitting signals to end users is important. If prices do not reflect the true value of the wood resource, in ecological, social, and economic terms, the resource will not be used in a way that is optimal for the welfare of the country and will result in long term unsustainability.
