During the past two decades, a better understanding of wood energy systems has led to the recognition that supply sources are more diversified than was once assumed, including not only forest areas but also trees outside forests. Thus the alarmist predictions of the 1970s of a “fuelwood crisis” in which supply sources would not be capable of meeting the demand have proved unfounded.
Nevertheless, in places where high fuelwood and charcoal consumption and weak supply sources put strong pressure on existing trees resources (because of high population density, low income and/or severe climate conditions), deforestation and devegetation problems are still of great concern.
The shift from fuelwood to charcoal, even if it lasts only a few decades, could have major ecological consequences if it is not kept under control. However, since charcoal stoves are more efficient than wood stoves, the ratio of primary energy to usable energy is almost the same as with fuelwood.
Thus with adequate supervision, management and support, the shift does not need to disrupt present levels of resource use. One great concern, however, is that charcoal, unlike fuelwood, is most often produced from forest resources. Thus the use of forest biomass for charcoal making could still represent a threat to the future of the resources in local terms, especially in certain situations with high demand (for instance the periphery of large urban zones with low resources) and lack of proper forest management practices and regulations.
With adequate forest management, supervision and control practices, however, the growth of charcoal use does not have to have a serious impact on forested areas that supply consumption centres.
Work carried out in the Niger and Mali, for example, indicated that control of the resource by the people living in the charcoal production areas can lead to proper management of the resource while improving local people’s incomes (CIRAD, unpublished documents, 2001). Despite some successful examples like these, many African governments, concerned about the potential threat of charcoal to forest resources, have launched programmes in the past two decades to encourage substitution of charcoal with other fuels (particularly LPG and kerosene) through subsidies and provision of equipment to households. Despite the effective distribution of equipment (in Dakar, Senegal, over 60 percent of families were equipped to use LPG), these programmes have not succeeded, in part because African cities do not always readily take on urban habits (Matly, 2000).
However, substitution programmes have also had the negative effect of creating unemployment in forest areas when charcoal production was discouraged. The lack of employment led to increased migration towards urban and peri-urban areas and accentuated the demand for fuelwood and even more charcoal, as these are the main source of affordable energy for poor people.
Banning the production and/or marketing of charcoal, as has sometimes been done (for example in Mauritania and Kenya), has proved counterproductive: bans do not in fact reduce production, but simply drive producers underground, thereby precluding proper control of production procedures (FAO, 1993).
The sustainable production and use of charcoal through proper management and planning of supply sources, together with rational trade and marketing infrastructures and efficient use, can also have a significant positive impact by helping to conserve resources, reducing migration from rural or forested areas and improving people’s incomes. However, the necessary interventions for long-term solutions are not easy to implement, especially for poor tropical countries that lack the necessary financial resources, institutional capacity and skilled personnel.
Charcoal is often traditionally made from species that yield a dense, slow-burning charcoal. These species are slow growing and are therefore particularly vulnerable to overexploitation. There is thus a need to encourage diversification and the use of Use of wood versus charcoal as fuel in Bamako, Mali.
A Guest Editorial