The Impact of Charcoal Production for Energy on Tropical Rainforest Resources in Nigeria

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angelique Lansu ◽  
Jaap Bos ◽  
Wilfried Ivens
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Land Use Change ◽  
Population Growth ◽  
Open Data ◽  
Forest Degradation ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Charcoal Production ◽  
Household Energy ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
The Impact

<p>In Sub Saharan Africa, many people depend on biomass for their household energy. Charcoal production is a common technique for converting biomass into a useful energy source. Nigeria is the biggest charcoal producer in Sub Saharan Africa. A large amount of wood is harvested from Nigerian forests for this charcoal production for energy. The Nexus of charcoal-land use change-energy imposes a considerable burden on the amount of wood that must be extracted from the forest for charcoal production. Therefore, charcoal production is linked to deforestation and forest degradation. However, it is not clear to what extent the demand for charcoal in Nigeria contributes to deforestation by land use change, and degradation of forests by selected wood logging. In this study, an attempt was made to provide an answer to this and to state which situation could occur by 2030, following the expected population growth in Nigeria. To achieve this, literature and open data on charcoal production, deforestation, forest degradation and population growth in Nigeria have been collected and analysed. Subsequently, calculations were carried out to determine to what extent charcoal production contributed to deforestation in the period 1990-2015. In this period, the share of deforestation due to charcoal production increased from 6% to 14%. If the expected charcoal production in 2030 were to apply to the current situation, this share would be around 20%. The quantity of wood required can also be expressed in numbers of hectares with biomass. In that case, around 80,000 ha would be required in 2030. To validate the findings, further research is needed on the amount of biomass per hectare in Nigerian forests, and on the amount of charcoal exported, not only as source of household energy but also globally as barbecue fuel. A more extensive analysis of open data on the nexus charcoal-land use change-energy at multiple scales will help to project future interlinkages.</p>

The impact of land use change on water resources in sub-Saharan Africa: a modelling study of Lake Malawi

1995 ◽  
Vol 170 (1-4) ◽  
pp. 123-135 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian R. Calder ◽  
Robin L. Hall ◽  
Heidi G. Bastable ◽  
Henry M. Gunston ◽  
Osborne Shela ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Water Resources ◽  
Land Use Change ◽  
Lake Malawi ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Modelling Study

scholarly journals The Sub-Saharan Africa carbon balance, an overview

2009 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 2085-2123 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Bombelli ◽  
M. Henry ◽  
S. Castaldi ◽  
S. Adu-Bredu ◽  
A. Arneth ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Balance ◽  
Agricultural Sector ◽  
Fire Regime ◽  
Carbon Sink ◽  
Forest Degradation ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Cycle System ◽  
First Results ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
The Impact

Abstract. This study presents a summary overview of the carbon balance of Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) by synthesizing the available data from national communications to UNFCCC and first results from the project CarboAfrica (net ecosystem productivity and emissions from fires, deforestation and forest degradation, by field and model estimates). According to these preliminary estimates the overall carbon balance of SSA varies from 0.43 Pg C y−1 (using in situ measurements for savanna NEP) to a much higher sink of 2.53 Pg C y−1 (using model estimates for savanna NEP). UNFCCC estimates lead to a moderate carbon sink of 0.58 Pg C y−1. Excluding anthropogenic disturbance and intrinsic episodic events, the carbon uptake by forests (0.98 Pg C y−1) and savannas (from 1.38 to 3.48 Pg C y−1, depending on the used methodology) are the main components of the SSA sink effect. Fires (0.72 Pg C y−1), deforestation (0.25 Pg C y−1) and forest degradation (0.77 Pg C y−1) are the main contributors to the SSA carbon emissions, while the agricultural sector contributes only with 0.12 Pg C y−1. Notably, the impact of forest degradation is higher than that caused by deforestation, and the SSA forest net carbon balance is close to equilibrium. Savannas play a major role in shaping the SSA carbon balance, due to their large areal extent, their fire regime, and their strong interannual NEP variability, but they are also a major uncertainty in the overall budget. This paper shows that Africa plays a key role in the global carbon cycle system and probably could have a potential for carbon sequestration higher than expected, even if still highly uncertain. Further investigations are needed, particularly to better address the role of savannas and tropical forests. The current CarboAfrica network of carbon measurements could provide future unique data sets for better estimating the African carbon balance.

Land-Use Change and Communal Conflicts in Sub-Saharan Africa

2017 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara Balestri ◽  
Mario A. Maggioni
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Land Use Change ◽  
Land Use Changes ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Regular Grid ◽  
Communal Conflict ◽  
Sub Saharan

AbstractThis paper addresses the correlation between land-use changes and communal conflicts in Sub-Saharan Africa. In particular, by articulating the analysis on a 0.5° × 0.5° regular grid, we estimate the probability of a communal conflict event at time

Agricultural households’ adaptation to weather shocks in Sub-Saharan Africa: implications for land-use change and deforestation

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-23
Author(s):  
Julia Girard ◽  
Philippe Delacote ◽  
Antoine Leblois
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Land Use Change ◽  
Growing Season ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Labor Income ◽  
Weather Shocks ◽  
Land Use Decisions ◽  
Agricultural Households ◽  
Sub Saharan

Abstract Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa is regularly threatened by the occurrence of weather shocks. We wonder whether the way farmers respond to shocks can affect land use and induce deforestation. Reviewing the existing literature, we found that this question has only been marginally studied. Drawing from the adaptation and land-use change literatures, we then expose the mechanisms through which weather shocks can push farmers to induce land-use change, or conversely to foster conservation. As farmers cope with shocks, their responses can cause degradations in ecosystems which could, in the long term, encourage deforestation and land-use change. To prepare for the next growing season, or adapt to climate variability and risk in the longer term, farmers also make structural adjustments in their farm and land-use decisions, which may lead to changes in land holding. They also resort to adaptation strategies that can indirectly affect land-use decisions by affecting households’ resources (labor, income).

Quantifying Local-scale Forest Degradation Intensity from Charcoal Production Using a Fusion of GEDI and Landsat Data

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mengyu Liang ◽  
Laura Duncanson ◽  
Fernando Sedano
Keyword(s):  
Forest Structure ◽  
Vegetation Indices ◽  
Forest Degradation ◽  
Local Scale ◽  
Ecosystem Dynamics ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Optical Remote Sensing ◽  
Degraded Forest ◽  
Charcoal Production ◽  
Sub Saharan

<p>Deforestation and degradation are two major threats to the global forest that jeopardize their functions to store carbon and mitigate climate change. Forest degradation undermines the health and functions of the forest to perform ecosystem services and is a stepping stone to deforestation. However, forest degradation has not been sufficiently monitored and quantified due to the varying intensity of disturbance and usually inconsistent spectral signals reflected in optical remote sensing. Drivers of forest degradation can be natural and/or human-related, and charcoal production is a key driver of forest degradation in sub-Saharan Africa due to the high demands for charcoal for energy consumption and the increasing rate of population growth and urbanization. In this study, we focus on charcoal production-driven forest degradation that occurred at the Mabalane district in Southern Mozambique from 2008 to 2018. We intend to demonstrate the potential of combining Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation (GEDI) data and Landsat time stacks for inspecting the changes in forest structure and aboveground biomass (AGB). To do so, we categorize the degraded forest by the year of disturbance based on a disturbance map produced for the study area for 2008-2018 by Sedano et al. (2019) and analyze the first year of publicly-released GEDI data to characterize forest structure and AGB at different disturbance classes. We also compare the GEDI L4A biomass with three other global and continental AGB products to understand the pre-disturbance biomass storage and the degradation patterns. Lastly, we build an empirical model between GEDI biomass and Landsat spectral bands and vegetation indices to quantify the biomass removal and regrowth from 10-year charcoal production. Uncertainties from the GEDI-Landsat models are estimated using Monte Carlo Simulations to propagate errors. The study improves the current understanding of forest degradation and carbon dynamics associated with it in tropical dry forests of sub-Saharan Africa. It also demonstrates the potential of combining spaceborne lidar missions and Landsat archives to facilitate accurate mapping of forest structural and AGB change in the degraded forest at a local scale. </p>

scholarly journals Implementation of REDD+ in sub-Saharan Africa: state of knowledge, challenges and opportunities

2011 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 381-404 ◽  
Author(s):  
MATIEU HENRY ◽  
DANAE MANIATIS ◽  
VINCENT GITZ ◽  
DAVID HUBERMAN ◽  
RICCARDO VALENTINI
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Carbon Stock ◽  
Forest Cover ◽  
Carbon Sink ◽  
Forest Degradation ◽  
Forest Carbon ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Forest Cover Change ◽  
Forest Carbon Stock ◽  
Sub Saharan

ABSTRACTDeforestation and forest degradation represent an important part of global CO2 emissions. The identification of the multiple drivers of land-use change, past and present forest cover change and associated carbon budget, and the presence of locally adapted systems to allow for proper monitoring are particularly lacking in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Any incentive system to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+) will have to overcome those limits. This paper reviews the main challenges to implementing effective REDD+ mitigation activities in SSA. We estimate that SSA is currently a net carbon sink of approximately 319 TgCO2 yr−1. Forest degradation and deforestation put the forest carbon stock at risk (mean forest carbon stock is 57,679 TgC). Our results highlight the importance of looking beyond the forest sector to ensure that REDD+ efforts are aligned with agricultural and land-use policies.

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