Savanna study highlights African fuelwood crisis
Institute of Physics |
The dwindling reserves of fuelwood in Africa have been
illuminated in a new study published January 18, which shows a bleak outlook
for supplies across savannas in South Africa. Presenting their findings in IOP
Publishing's journal Environmental Research Letters,
researchers have found that at current consumption levels in the communal areas
of Lowveld, South Africa, reserves of fuelwood could be totally exhausted
within 13 years.
The
consequences are significant, with around half of the 2.4 million rural
households in the country using wood as their primary fuel source, burning
between four and seven million tonnes per year.
Consumption
of fuelwood is greater across the rest of sub-Saharan Africa, which includes
countries significantly less developed than South Africa -- around 80 per cent of
households rely on fuelwood as their primary energy source.
The
researchers measured the amount of biomass currently covering the study areas
using the Carnegie Airborne Observatory (CAO) -- an aircraft loaded with
state-of-the-art imaging systems (funded by the Andrew Mellon Foundation).
The CAO
was flown at an altitude of 2000 metres across 30 000 hectares of land and a
light detection and ranging (LiDAR) system was used to calculate tree height by
firing millions of laser pulses down to the ground and measuring the time it
takes for the light to return to the aircraft.
The
study area included Kruger National Park, Sabi Sand Game Reserve and communal
areas in the Bushbuck Ridge municipality. The result was a set of tree height
maps from which biomass maps were generated.
The
researchers selected the village of Justicia as a model for calculating how
reserves of fuelwood could be reduced under different consumption scenarios.
They found that under current consumption rates, the fuelwood around this area
would be totally exhausted within 13 years; however, locals could stop
collecting at least two to three years in advance of this if the quality and
density of fuelwood becomes too low.
They
also showed that households using fuelwood would need to be reduced by 15 per
cent a year for eight years, until only 20 per cent of total households are
using it, before biomass stabilises to a sustainable level.
"Despite
significant electrification of rural households in South Africa, large amounts
of fuelwood are still being extracted from savannah woodlands," said
lead-author of the letter Konrad Wessels.
"Rural
households need to reduce fuelwood use in favour of other energy alternatives.
Currently the only viable alternative is electric stoves, but the switch to
electric stoves has been slow, apparently due to the cost of stoves and
electricity, as well as cultural preferences. Furthermore, since unemployment
is high, there is ample labour to collect free fuelwood, even as it becomes
scarce."
"The
use of alternative sources of energy for cooking should be promoted to balance
out the current unsustainable rate of fuel wood extraction; however, it will
still require interventions aimed at general poverty reduction, and culturally
acceptable energy alternatives."
Source: Institute
of Physics
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