Dispelling common misconceptions to improve attitudes and policy outlook on charcoal in developing countries

Energy for Sustainable Development

Volumn 17, Issue 2, 2013, Pages 75-85

  Mwampamba, Tuyeni H ^a   Ghilardi, Adrián ^b,c   Sander, Klas ^d   Chaix, Kim Jean ^e  

^a INSTITUTO DE INVESTIGACIONES EN ECOSISTEMAS Y SUSTENTABILIDAD   (Mexico)

^b INSTITUTO DE MATEMÁTICAS   (Mexico)

^c Yale University   (United States)

^d WORLD BANK   (United States)

^e The Charcoal Project   (United States)

Author keywords

Biomass energy; Charcoal; Energy policy; Fuelwood; Misconceptions; Woodfuel

Indexed keywords

BIOMASS; DECISION MAKING; DEFORESTATION; DEVELOPING COUNTRIES; ENERGY POLICY; GREENHOUSE GASES; WOOD FUELS;

BIO-MASS ENERGY; DOMESTIC COOKING; ECONOMIC CHALLENGES; FUELWOOD; INTERVENTION RESPONSE; MISCONCEPTIONS; PARTIAL INFORMATION; ROBUST DECISIONS;

CHARCOAL;

BIOMASS POWER; CHARCOAL; DEVELOPING WORLD; ENERGY POLICY; FUELWOOD; INFORMATION; PERCEPTION; PUBLIC ATTITUDE;

EID: 84875605093     PISSN: 09730826     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1016/j.esd.2013.01.001     Document Type: Review

References (94)

1. Ahrends A., Burgess N.D., Milledge S.A.H., Bulling M.T., Fisher B., Smart J.C.R., et al. Predictable waves of sequential forest degradation and biodiversity loss spreading from an African city. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2010, 107:14556-14561.
2. Alem S., Duraisamy J., Legesse E., Seboka Y., Mitiku E. Wood charcoal supply to Addis Ababa City and its effect on the environment. Energy Environ - UK 2010, 21:601-609.
3. Arnold J.E.M., Kohlin G., Persson R. Woodfuels, livelihoods, and policy interventions: changing perspectives. World Dev 2006, 34:596-611.
4. Arnold M., Persson R. Reassessing the fuelwood situation in developing countries. Int Forest Rev 2003, 5:379-383.
5. Bailis R. Fuel from the savanna: the social and environmental implications of the charcoal trade in Sub-Saharan Africa 2005, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California, US.
6. Bailis R. Modeling climate change mitigation from alternative methods of charcoal production in Kenya. Biomass Bioenergy 2009, 33:1491-1502.
7. Bailis R., Ezzati M., Kammen D.M. Mortality and greenhouse gas impacts of biomass and petroleum energy futures in Africa. Science 2005, 308:98-103.
8. Benjaminsen T.A. Natural resource management, paradigm shifts, and the decentralization reform in Mali. Hum Ecol 1997, 25:121-143.
9. Bhagavan M.R. The woodfuel crisis in the Sadcc countries. Ambio 1984, 13:25-27.
10. Carneiro de Miranda R., Bailis R., Vilela A.d.O. Cogenerating electricity from charcoaling: A promising new advanced technology. Energy Sustain Dev 2013, 17:171-176.
11. Castillo-Santiago M.Á., Ghilardi A., Oyama K., Hernández-Stefanoni J.L., Torres I., Flamenco-Sandoval A., Fernández A., Mas J.-F. Estimating the spatial distribution of woody biomass suitable for charcoal making from remote sensing and geostatistics in central Mexico. Energy Sustain Dev 2013, 17:177-188.
12. Checo H. Desarrollo de las comunidades carboneras de la frontero domínico-haitiana 2010, FAO, Santo Domingo.
13. Chidumayo E.N. Zambian Charcoal Production - Miombo Woodland Recovery. Energy Policy 1993, 21:586-597.
14. Chidumayo E.N., Gumbo D.J. The environmental impacts of charcoal production in tropical ecosystems of the world: A synthesis. Energy Sustain Dev 2013, 17:86-94.
15. Cline-Cole R. Knowledge claims and landscape: alternative views of the fuelwood-degradation nexus in northern Nigeria. Environ Plan D 1998, 16:311-346.
16. Cline-cole R.A., Main H.A.C., Nichol J.E. On fuelwood consumption, population-dynamics and deforestation in Africa. World Dev 1990, 18:513-527.
17. Dewees P.A. The woodfuel crisis reconsidered - observations on the dynamics of abundance and scarcity. World Dev 1989, 17:1159-1172.
18. ESD Energy for sustainable development (ESD). Situation analysis of charcoal dynamics, energy policies and possibilities of switching to alternatives 2007, WWF-Tanzania.
19. Estevez R.A., Squeo F.A., Arancio G., Erazo M.B. Production of charcoal from native shrubs in the Atacama Region, Chile. Gayana Bot 2010, 67:213-222.
20. FAO Wood Fuel Surveys 1983, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome.
21. FAO Unified Bioenergy Terminology (UBET) 2004, 50. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome.
22. FAO Biomass energy in the Asia-Pacific region: current status, trands and future setting 2009.
23. FAOStat ForestStat - forestry statistics 2012, http://faostat.fao.org/, FAO, Rome.
24. Fukuda-Parr S. Defining poverty in the developing world. J Hum Dev Capab 2009, 10:155-157.
25. GACC. Visited in December 2012. http://www.cleancookstoves.org/.
26. Girard P. Charcoal production and use in Africa: what future?. Unasylva 2002, 53:30-34.
27. Government of Myanmar Greater Mekong Subregion Economic Cooperation Program 2009, Country Assessment on Biofuels and Renewable Energy, Myanmar.
28. Hanna R., Duflo E., Greenstone M. Up in smoke: the influence of household behavior on the long-run impact of improved cooking stoves 2012, 02142. MIT, Cambridge, MA.
29. Hansfort S.L., Mertz O. Challenging the woodfuel crisis in West African woodlands. Hum Ecol 2011, 39:583-595.
30. Hiemstra-van der Horst G., Hovorka A.J. Reassessing the "energy ladder": household energy use in Maun, Botswana. Energy Policy 2008, 36:3333-3344.
31. Hiemstra-van der Horst G., Hovorka A.J. Fuelwood. The "other" renewable energy source for Africa?. Biomass Bioenerg 2009, 33:1605-1616.
32. Hosier R.H., Dowd J. Household fuel choice in Zimbabwe: an empirical test of the energy ladder hypothesis. Resour Energy 1987, 9:347-361.
33. Hosier R.H., Kipondya W. Urban household energy use in Tanzania - prices, substitutes and poverty. Energy Policy 1993, 21:454-473.
34. Huszar P.C., Bucher E.H. Land degradation and renewal in the Gran Chaco of South America. Response to Land Degradation 2001, 293-303.
35. IEA World energy outlook 2009 2009, International Energy Agency (IEA), Paris Cedex, France.
36. IEA World energy statistics and balances (database) 2012, International Energy Agency, (Accessed on 09 October 2012). 10.1787/data-00510-en.
37. Jayakumar S., Ramachandran A., Bhaskaran G., Heo J. Forest dynamics in the Eastern Ghats of Tamil Nadu, India. Environ Manage 2009, 43:326-345.
38. Jeuland M.A., Pattanayak S.K. Benefits and costs of improved cookstoves: assessing the implications of variability in health, forest and climate impacts. PLoS One 2012, 7.
39. Kambewa P., Mataya B., Sichinga K., Jonhson T. Charcoal: the reality. A study of charcoal consumption, trade and production in Malawi 2007, International Institute for Environment and Development, UK.
40. Kammen D.M., Lew D.J. Review of technologies for the production and use of charcoal. Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory Report 2005.
41. Karakezi S., Kithyoma W., Muzee K., Annah O. Scaling up bioenergy in Africa. Presented during the International Conference on Renewable Energy in Africa, Dakar 16-18 April 2008 2008.
42. Khundi F., Jagger P., Shively G., Sserunkuuma D. Income, poverty and charcoal production in Uganda. Forest Policy Econ 2011, 13:199-205.
43. Knudson D.M., Chaney W.R., Reynoso F.A. Fuelwood and charcoal research in the Dominican Republic. Purdue University, Dept. of Forestry and Natural Resources, Government of the Dominican Republic with support from the U.S. Agency for International Development 1988.
44. Koyuncu T., Pinar Y. The emissions from a space-heating biomass stove. Biomass Bioenergy 2007, 31:73-79.
45. Kutsch W.L., Merbold L., Ziegler W., Mukelabai M.M., Muchinda M., Kolle O., et al. The charcoal trap: Miombo forests and the energy needs of people. Carbon Balance Manage 2011, 6:1-11.
46. Larpkern P., Totland O., Moe S.R. Do disturbance and productivity influence evenness of seedling, sapling and adult tree species across a semi-deciduous tropical forest landscape?. Oikos 2011, 120:623-629.
47. Lea J.D. A review of literature on charcoal in Haiti. Prosopis: Semiarid Fuelwood and Forage Tree Building Consensus for the Disenfranchised 1996, B33-B43.
48. Leach G. The energy transition. Energy Policy 1992, 20:116-123.
49. Leach G., Mearns R. Beyond the woodfuel crisis: people, land, and trees in Africa 1988, Earthscan Publications, London.
50. Lifeline Fund Why stoves? International Lifeline Fund webpage accessed in December 2012 2012, http://www.lifelinefund.org/why-stoves.php.
51. Maes W.H., Verbist B. Increasing the sustainability of household cooking in developing countries: policy implications. Renew Sustain Energy Rev 2012, 16:4204-4221.
52. Masera O.R., Saatkamp B.D., Kammen D.M. From linear fuel switching to multiple cooking strategies: a critique and alternative to the energy ladder model. World Dev 2000, 28:2083-2103.
53. Masera O., Arias T., Ghilardi A., Guerrero G., Patiño P. Estudio sobre la evolución nacional del consumo de leña y carbón vegetal en México 1990-2024 2010, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), México DF.
54. May-Tobin C. Chapter 8: Wood for fuel, the root of the problem: what's driving tropical deforestation today?. Union of Concerned Scientists 2010.
55. Metz J.J. Forest product use at an upper elevation village in Nepal. Environ Manage 1994, 18:371-390.
56. Minten B., Sander K., Stifel D. Forest management and economic rents: Evidence from the charcoal trade in Madagascar. Energy Sustain Dev 2013, 17:106-115.
57. Mobarak A.M., Dwivedi P., Bailis R., Hildemann L., Miller G. Low demand for nontraditional cookstove technologies. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2012, 109:10815-10820.
58. Mwampamba T.H. Has the woodfuel crisis returned? Urban charcoal consumption in Tanzania and its implications to present and future forest availability. Energy Policy 2007, 35:4221-4234.
59. Mwampamba T.H., Owen M., Pigaht M. Opportunities, challenges and way forward for the charcoal briquette industry in Sub-Saharan Africa. Energy Sustain Dev 2013, 17:158-170.
60. Nansaior A., Patanothai A., Rambo A.T., Simaraks S. Climbing the energy ladder or diversifying energy sources? The continuing importance of household use of biomass energy in urbanizing communities in Northeast Thailand. Biomass Bioenergy 2011, 35:4180-4188.
61. Norconsult The true cost of charcoal: a rapid appraisal of the potential economic and environmental benefits of substituting LPG for charcoal as an urban fuel in Tanzania. May 2002 Consultancy report to the LPG Committee of the Tanzania Association of Oil Marketing Companies 2002.
62. Openshaw K. Biomass energy: employment generation and its contribution to poverty alleviation. Biomass Bioenergy 2010, 34:365-378.
63. Ouedraogo B. Household energy preferences for cooking in urban Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. Energy Policy 2006, 34:3787-3795.
64. Owen M., van der Plas R., Sepp S. Can there be energy policy in Sub-Saharan Africa without biomass?. Energy Sustain Dev 2013, 17:146-152. (this issue).
65. Patel V.J. Rational approach towards fuelwood crisis in rural India. Econ Polit Wkly 1985, 20:1366-1368.
66. Pearson P.J.G., Stevens P. The fuelwood crisis and the environment - problems, policies and instruments. Energy Policy 1989, 17:132-137.
67. Pennise D.M., Smith K.R., Kithinji J.P., Rezende M.E., Raad T.J., Zhang J.F., et al. Emissions of greenhouse gases and other airborne pollutants from charcoal making in Kenya and Brazil. J Geophys Res-Atmos 2001, 106:24143-24155.
68. Plas van der R. Charcoal and taxation in Africa. Discussion Draft 2008.
69. Ramos M.M. Producción y comercialización de carbón vegetal en la microregión Teopisca-San Cristóbal. Región Altos de Chiapas 1999, UACh, San Cristóbal de las Casas, México.
70. Remedio E.M., Terrence G. Socioeconomic and environmental impacts of woodfuel consumption and production: a case study of Cebu Province, Philippines 2003, EC-FAO Partnership Programme, Rome.
71. Ribot Jesse C. From exclusion to participation: turning Senegal's forestry policy around. World Dev 1995, 23(9):1587-1599.
72. Ribot J.C. A history of fear: imagining deforestation in the West African dryland forests. Glob Ecol Biogeogr 1999, 8:291-300.
73. Roth L.C. Enemies of the trees? Subsistence farmers and perverse protection of tropical dry forest. J Forest 2001, 99:20-27.
74. RWEDP Patterns of commercial woodfuel supply, distribution and use in the city and province of Cebu, Philippines. RWEDP, FAO 1993.
75. RWEDP The "Fuelwood Gap Theory" rejected. Regional study on wood energy today and tomorrow in Asia. Regional Wood Energy Development Programme (RWEDP) in Asia - Field Document 50, Bangkok, Thailand 1997, FAO (Ed.).
76. Sagawe T. Deforestation and the behavior of households in the Dominican-Republic. Geography 1991, 76:304-314.
77. Sasaki N., Asner G.P., Knorr W., Durst P.B., Priyadi H.R., Putz F.E. Approaches to classifying and restoring degraded tropical forests for the anticipated REDD+ climate change mitigation mechanism. ISTF NEWS Bethesda, Maryland 20814, USA Special Report April 2011.
78. Schneichel M., Asmussen P. Dry forest management - putting campesinos in charge. Adv Geoecol 1998, 31:1023-1027.
79. Semple S., Devakumar D., Fullerton D.G., Thorne P.S., Metwali N., Costello A., et al. Airborne endotoxin concentrations in homes burning biomass fuel. Environ Health Perspect 2010, 118:988-991.
80. Sepp S. Promotion of Sustainable Charcoal Production Through Community Level Approaches: Experiences and Lessons Learned from Selected Sub-Saharan African Countries. discussion paper 2008, ECO-Consulting Group, Oberaula, Germany.
81. Singh G., Rawat G.S., Verma D. Comparative study of fuelwood consumption by villagers and seasonal "Dhaba owners" in the tourist affected regions of Garhwal Himalaya, India. Energy Policy 2010, 38:1895-1899.
82. Skutsch M.M., Balderas Torres A., Mwampamba T.H., Ghilardi A., Herold M. Dealing with locally-driven degradation: a quick start option under REDD+. Carbon Balance Manage 2011, 6:16.
83. Smith K.R., Uma R., Kishore V.V.N., Zhang J.F., Joshi V., Khalil M.A.K. Greenhouse implications of household stoves: An analysis for India. Annu Rev Energy Environ 2000, 25:741-763.
84. Sood K.K., Mitchell C.P. Household level domestic fuel consumption and forest resource in relation to agroforestry adoption: evidence against need-based approach. Biomass Bioenergy 2011, 35:337-345.
85. Thailand, G.o. Thailand 20-Year Energy Efficiency Development Plan (2011-2030). undated.
86. Torres J.E. Biomass energy use and statistics in Latin America: methodological and institutional challenges. Biomass Energy: Key Issues and Priority Needs, Conference Proceedings 1997, 175-186.
87. Van der Plas R. Burning charcoal issues. Energy Issues, the World Bank Group, FDP Energy Note No 1 1995.
88. Wood T.S., Baldwin S. Fuelwood and charcoal use in developing-countries. Annu Rev Energy 1985, 10:407-429.
89. World Bank Environmental crisis or sustainable development opportunity? Transforming the charcoal sector in Tanzania 2009, World Bank, Washington DC.
90. World Bank Enabling Reforms: a stakeholder-based analysis of the political economy of Tanzania's charcoal sector and the poverty and social impacts of proposed reforms 2010, The World Bank, Washington DC.
91. World Bank Wood-based Biomass Energy Development in Sub-Saharan Africa - Issues and approaches. Africa Renewable Energy Access Program/Energy Sector Management and Assistance Program (ESMAP) 2011, The World Bank, Washington, DC.
92. Xander P. Geographical aspects of charcoal production 1987, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Isla del Carmen, Mexico.
93. Zulu L.C. The forbidden fuel: charcoal, urban woodfuel demand and supply dynamics, community forest management and woodfuel policy in Malawi. Energy Policy 2010, 38:3717-3730.
94. Zulu L.C., Richardson R.B. Charcoal, livelihoods, and poverty reduction: Evidence from sub-Saharan Africa. Energy Sustain Dev 2013, 17:127-137.