Ralibera Andriamifidy Gerard
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Andrianaivoravelona Jaconnet Oliva
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Rakotosaona Rijalalaina
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Ramaroson Jean de Dieu
This study is trying to look into the relationship between households' exploitation of ligneous resources for energy purposes and environmental problems, concerning a periurban area of Madagascar. The matter is threatening because households in developing countries will always depend on forest resources and environmental issues seem to be more and more complex. The main problems are associated with socio-economical, cultural, environmental, and technical factors, that is why it is complicated to find out the best way to manage the system. For this, two types of descriptive surveys including 60 questions were used to collect information and data on household behavior in terms of cooking fuel use and consumption. The population of the study consisted of 1,075 households and fuel retailers inside the studied area, also called The Municipality of Andranonahoatra. Then data collected were analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. After that, fuel consumption was modeled, using a linear multiple regression method to calculate the demand of each class of household and the pollutant gas emissions throughout the supply chain, i.e., production, transport, and end-use. For pollutant gases emitted by each fuel, the standards and literature results are used. The values obtained will be compared with the national and international emission levels. Findings of the study show significant positive relationships between socio-cultural and financial factors, and cooking fuel consumption, including fuelwood, charcoal, and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). As a result, the elaborated models have estimated the average amount of fuel consumption in the Municipality at 117 kg/capita/year of charcoal, 23 kg/capita/year of fuelwood, and 0.6 kg/capita/year of LPG. Form there, in the environmental field, each inhabitant emits about, 0.8 t of CO2/capita/year, 9 kg of CH4/capita/year, 26 kg of Non-Methanic Volatile Organic Compounds (NMVOC)/capita/year, 7 g of N2O/capita/year and 3.4 kg/capita/year of fine particles inhaled directly by the person preparing the meal. In other words, each person would prevent the sequestration of about 1.27 t of CO2/year. Using the Global Warming Potential, the emission is 1.1 tons CO2-equivalent/capita/year due to the use of cooking fuels. These models and assessments can help and incite governments and decision-makers to elaborate strategy aiming to protect the forest ecosystem while ensuring the energy supply of poor households in developing countries.
KEYWORDS: cooking fuels, model, greenhouse gas, global warming potential.