In developing countries such as Guatemala, firewood is increasingly being used for cooking in most rural areas. Consequently, there is a shortage of firewood in these areas beca use trees do not grow at the same rate as they are consumed. Some authors report that 90% of the heat from firewood is lost during combustion. Several alternatives to open pit fires exist to reduce the amount of firewood used. However, these alternatives need to be evaluated to determine their efficiency. This project compared the time efficiency and volume of firewood used in the Finlandia style improved stoves, Josefina stoves, and open pit fires used by the majority of people in the Salitrón community of San Juan Ermita, Chiquimula.

Thesis (doctoral)--Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, 2007. / Thesis documentation sheet inserted. Appendix reproduces four papers and manuscripts co-authored with others. Includes bibliographical references. Also issued electronically via World Wide Web in PDF format; online version lacks appendix.

Thesis (MFor)--University of Stellenbosch, 2003. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The reliance of firewood demand on indigenous trees such as Acacia erioloba is a continuing phenomena despite the concern that over-exploitation of these resources will degrade the environment. This study tested the hypothesis that the cutting of A. erioloba in the Northern Cape is driven by (a) market demand in the Western Cape, (b) ignorance of the long-term ecological consequences and/or (c) ignorance of legislation along the chain of custody of this product. The assumption is that whoever is involved in the A. erioloba firewood industry (resource owner, trader or user) is neither aware of the protected status of the resource nor the negative consequences associated with the over-exploitation of the resource or they are driven by short term monetary gains. Therefore, there is a need to understand the needs of every participant in the chain and to further find out if there may be substitutes for A. erioloba firewood. The results of this study show that there is a market for firewood in the study area and that this demand is driven mainly by the availability rather than the quality of firewood. It will also be shown that Acacia mearnsii which is available in the study area is a better product than A. erioloba and therefore it can be a suitable replacement but consumers were found to bum almost everything that would give them embers. The most preferred firewood in the study area is A. cyclops. The concept of indigenous trees is not clearly understood by retailers and consumers. The major role players in the supply chain were found to be the retailers and the transport owners who may be targeted when firewood trade is to be stopped in the short-term. The results further highlighted the fact that the majority of consumers were aware that indigenous trees were protected in South Africa but the majority of retailers were not aware. The study recommends that firewood trade should be stopped completely by strict enforcement of the law or by the involvement of every role-player and/or that the trade should be regulated. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die fenomeen dat die aanvraag vir vuurmaakhout staatmaak op inheemse bome soos Acacia erioloba duur steeds voort ten spyte van die kommer dat oorbenutting van hierdie hulpbronne, ter versadiging van die behoeftes van 'n steeds toenemende populasie, die omgewing sal degradeer. Hierdie studie het die hipotese getoets dat die afsny van A. erioloba in die Noord- Kaap aangedryf word deur (a) die mark aanvraag in die Wes-Kaap, (b) onkunde oor die langtermyn ekologiese gevolge en/of (c) onkunde oor die wetgewing van hierdie produk by die skakels in die verskaffersketting. Die aanname is dat wie ook al betrokke is by die A. erioloba vuurmaakhout-industrie (hulpbron eienaar, handelaar of gebruiker) is beide onbewus van die beskermde status van die hulpbron asook van die negatiewe gevolge geassosieer met die oorbenutting van die hulpbron of hulle is aangedryf deur korttermyn monetêre gewin. Daarom is dit nodig om die behoefte van elke deelnemer in die ketting te verstaan en om verder uit te vind of daar plaasvervangers vir A. erioloba vuurmaakhout is. Die resultate van hierdie studie toon dat daar 'n aanvraag is vir vuurmaakhout in die studie-area en dat hierdie aanvraag hoofsaaklik gedryf word deur die beskikbaarheid, eerder as die kwaliteit van die hout. Daar salook aangetoon word dat Acacia mearnsii, wat in die studie-area beskikbaar is, 'n beter produk is as A. erioloba en dus 'n geskikte plaasvervanger kan wees, maar dit wil voorkom of die verbruikers omtrent enigiets sal brand wat kole sal verskaf. A. cyclops is die vuurmaakhout van voorkeur in die studie-area. Handelaars en verbruikers verstaan nie die konsep van inheemse bome duidelik nie. Die vernaamste rolspelers in die verskaffersketting is die handelaars en die eienaars van die vervoer en hulle kan die teikengroep wees as die handel in vuurmaakhout in die korttermyn stopgesit word. Die resultate het verder na vore gebring dat die meerderheid verbruikers daarvan bewus is dat inheemse bome beskermd is in Suid-Afrika, maar die meerderheid handelaars is nie hiervan bewus me. Hierdie studie maak die aanbeveling dat handel in vuurmaakhout totaal gestaak moet word deur strenger wette of deur die betrokkenheid van elke rolspeler en/of dat handel gereguleer moet word.

A Madagascar et au Niger, des politiques de décentralisation de la gestion des ressources naturelles ont émergé dans les années 90. Elles se sont construites en réponse à l'échec des politiques centralisées face à la dégradation des forêts et ont été favorisés par le développement de la reconnaissance à l'international des capacités des acteurs ruraux à gérer leurs forêts. L'application de ces politiques modifie les interactions entre acteurs ruraux et écosystèmes de façon positive et négative. Cette thèse propose un cadre pour analyser les effets attendus et inattendus des réformes forestières sur les forêts et les acteurs ruraux. Ce cadre est appliqué à un cas d'étude à Madagascar et un au Niger, illustrant la décentralisation dans des contextes différents. Le couple humains-écosystèmes forestiers est modélisé comme un système socio-écologique (SES), dont les interactions entre usagers et écosystèmes sont des fonctions du SES. Les politiques forestières sont interprétées comme des stratégies visant à réduire la vulnérabilité des SES. Les résultats montrent que le processus de décentralisation a visé un SES dans lequel une seule fonction, la production de bois énergie, est représentée. Cependant, les systèmes de forêts tropicales sèches sont composés de plusieurs fonctions différentes qui interagissent entre elles. Les nouvelles politiques forestières entrainent l'augmentation de l'expression de certaines des fonctions parmi les 16 identifiées au Niger et les 15 identifiées à Madagascar. Mais elles ont aussi conduit au déclin d'autres fonctions, avec des conséquences pour les acteurs impliqués dans ces fonctions. Pour réduire la vulnérabilité dans les SES des forêts tropicales sèches, des politiques qui intègrent les interactions complexes caractéristiques de ces systèmes doivent être développées. / In the 1990's, policies for decentralization of natural resource management were developed in Madagascar and Niger. These policies were created in response to the failure of centralized policies to halt forest degradation, and favored by an increasing international recognition of rural people's capacity to manage their own forests. The new policies influenced how rural people interact with their forest ecosystems, a change process that had both positive and negative outcomes. This thesis proposes a framework for analyzing intended as well as inadvertent effects of the decentralization policies on forests and on local people. It further applies the framework to two case studies, one in Niger and one in Madagascar, representing the implementation of these policies in two different contexts. The framework conceptualizes human and forests as a social-ecological system (SES), in which interactions between users and ecosystems are regarded as functions of the system. The implemented policies are interpreted as strategies to reduce vulnerability of the SES. The results show that the decentralization process targeted a SES where only one function, the production of fuelwood, was perceived. In reality, however, dry tropical forest systems are composed by several different functions, and these functions interact. While the new forest policies led to an increased expression of some of the 16 functions identified in Niger (15 in Madagascar), they led to a decline in others, with the subsequent marginalization of the actors groups linked to those functions. To reduce vulnerability in tropical dry forest SES, we need to develop policy options that properly reflect and account for the complex interactions that characterize these systems.

Research report submitted in partial fulfillment of requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Quantitative Conservation Biology at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. / The study aimed: (1) to provide baseline data on aspects of wood utilisation in a resource area and a communal area In KwaZulu, (2) to investigate the effects of this wood utilisation on the resource base, and (3) to discuss the sustainability of current wood. utilisation. Wood utilisation in this study refers to the harvesting of dead and livewood for fuelwood, building poles and fencing posts. (Abbreviation abstract) / AC2017

La thèse pose le problème des modifications de gestion des ressources naturelles provoquées par la transition énergétique, à partir de l'exemple du bois-énergie. Deux cas d'études, les régions Auvergne et Rhône-Alpes, permettent un suivi de ces configurations de l'échelle locale à l'échelle nationale. Les rapports de pouvoir induits par les asymétries d'information sur la ressource disponible et l'élaboration d'une action commune sur plusieurs niveaux d'échelles constituent les deux fils conducteurs de ce travail. La première partie du travail analyse, au chapitre 1, les relations entre politiques forestières et énergétiques, mais aussi territoriales, environnementales et climatiques. La contrainte spatiale pesant sur la ressource forestière est mise en avant. En effet, la ressource en bois-énergie se différencie des autres énergies renouvelables par sa difficulté d'accès et la lenteur de son renouvellement quand les énergies solaires ou éoliennes sont infinies. Ces barrières bio-physiques créent des tensions entre acteurs de la forêt et de l'énergie pour ce qui concerne les modèles d'approvisionnement à privilégier: d'un côté, les acteurs forestiers prônent de petites chaufferies consommant la ressource locale en quantités modérées, quand les acteurs issus de l'énergie préfèrent de grandes chaufferies, nécessitant un plus long transport de la ressource pour réaliser des économies d'échelle. À cette opposition s'ajoutent de fortes tensions internes dans la filière bois, qui est le deuxième poste de déficit commercial en France après les hydrocarbures et qui peine à valoriser industriellement son propre bois. Nous exposons donc un contexte de fortes incertitudes, tant politiques que scientifiques. Le deuxième chapitre présente une typologie statistique de l'Europe du bois-énergie afin de caractériser la place de la France. Puis, nous proposons une analyse des séquences de l'essor du bois-énergie en France, depuis les années 1970, pour montrer comment l'utilisation du bois-énergie s'est progressivement rationalisée. La deuxième partie explore comment les politiques nationales sont assimilées par les acteurs régionaux, en Auvergne au chapitre 3, puis en Rhône-Alpes au chapitre 4. Cette partie souligne notamment l'effet des dissymétries d'information dans les réseaux d'acteurs et le besoin d'outils fiables, ainsi que le rôle différent joué par les filières bois et énergie au niveau régional. La troisième partie développe au chapitre 5 en quoi le bois-énergie peut être traité sous l'angle du bien commun, et le besoin de polycentricité, c'est-à-dire de niveaux de contrôles multiples. Enfin, le chapitre 6 aborde comment l'attribution d'une valeur politique et morale au bois-énergie, et plus largement, à la transition énergétique et environnementale, modifie les rapports entre niveaux d'échelle, du local au national. / The thesis uses the case of fuelwood to study how energy transition causes changes in natural resources management. Our work is based upon two case studies, French regions Auvergne and Rhône-Alpes, and we follow configurations from local to national levels. Balance of powers induced by asymetries of information on the available resource and the development of a common action along different levels of scale are our two main threads. In the first part, the chapter 1 focuses on relationships between forest and energy but also territorial, environmental and climatic policies. Our work highlights the spatial constraints wheighing upon forest resource. Fuelwood resource is different from other renewable energies because of its difficulties of access and its slow renewal, whereas solar or wind energies are infinite. Those bio-physical barriers are the reason for struggles between forest and energy stakeholders regarding which supply models to prefer: on the one hand, forest stakeholders advocate small boilers using local resource in small quantities, whereas, on the other hand, energy stakeholders prefer important boilers requiring long road transportation (hence more CO$_{2}$ emissions) but enabling economies of scale. Moreover, there is important internal problems in the forest sector, which represents the second most important source of trade deficit in France (after hydrocarbons) and experiences difficulties to sell national timber. Therefore, we present a context with strong uncertainties, both political and scientific. In the second chapter we conduct a statistical typology on fuelwood in Europe, in order to characterise more objectively the French situation. Then, the thesis analyses the sequences of the development of fuelwood in France, since the 1970s, to show how its use became progressively more rational. In the second part, our work investigates how national policies are dealt with by regional stakeholders, in Auvergne in chapter 3, then in Rhône-Alpes in chapter 4. This part underlines in particular the importance of asymetries of information among actors networks, the need for reliable tools and the different roles of forest and energy sector at regional level. Third part emphasizes, in chapter 5, that fuelwood can be analyzed as a common good and the need for polycentricity, i.e. multiple control levels. Finally, chapter 6 demonstrates how the assignation of a political value to fuelwood, and more generally to the energy and environmental transition, change balance between levels, from local to national.

Forest and woodland ecosystems provide a variety of natural resources such as fuelwood, brushwood and kraal posts to local communities, as well as possess important cultural and spiritual value. However, many forests and woodlands worldwide have been unsustainably used and managed. Thus, under pressure from the international conservation community to recognise the importance of people's relationships with their surrounding natural environment, particularly for the natural resources it can provide, and given a move away from the management of forests and woodlands for sustained yields, and according to simple cause and effect models, in favour of systems approaches, South Africa has developed some of the most progressive natural resource management policies in the world. Nevertheless, for these policies to be sensitive to local contexts, there remains a need for a better understanding of how local people in different contexts, determine forest and woodland ecosystems to be of use to them, and what 'usefulness' means to different groups of resources users. This is a case study, which examines the role of fuelwood, brushwood and kraal posts in the rural livelihoods of the people of Machibi village, located in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa, through people's preferences for particular landscapes and species, accessed for these purposes, and the trade-offs people make between resource availability and resource accessibility. Key objectives of the study are to 1) determine the preferred landscapes and species for fuelwood, brushwood and kraal posts at Machibi, 2) determine the landscapes and species actually used for fuelwood, brushwood and kraal posts, and 3) with the help of a conceptual model, and using iterative modelling as a tool, determine the factors that influence people's harvesting strategies in terms of the costs and benefits associated with the different landscape and species options. On the basis of this knowledge, the study provides some guiding principles for the better use and management of these landscapes and species for fuelwood, brushwood and kraal posts. An innovative research approach and methodology that integrates social and ecological systems, works across disciplines, and draws on different types of knowledge is used to develop and test a conceptual model of the harvesting strategies of fuelwood and kraalwood users at Machibi. Participatory methods such as workshops, participatory resource mapping, ranking exercises and trend-lines were used to tap into local knowledge while plotless vegetation sampling and GIS maps were used to capture the scientific information. Results showed that people did not always use the landscapes and species they preferred. However, the local people did behave in a rational manner by weighing up the returns from harvesting and accessibility costs associated with the respective options available to them, before selecting the option(s) associated with the greatest net benefits. At the landscape level, people made trade-offs between the returns from harvesting and the accessibility costs of using particular landscapes in addition to costs associated with the physical work of harvesting fuelwood, brushwood or kraal posts from these landscapes. At the species level, people made trade-offs between the returns from harvesting and the accessibility costs of harvesting particular species for fuelwood, brushwood and kraal posts, or the costs of commercial alternatives. Costbenefit factors that influenced people's resource use patterns also differed across landscapes and species for fuelwood, brushwood and kraal posts, respectively. Consequently, a range of diverse and flexible management options and strategies is recommended for the wise use and management of these landscapes and species, focused on short, medium and long term goals. These strategies examine the use of cost - benefit incentives to influence people’s landscape and species use patterns.

Please read the abstract in the dissertation / Dissertation (MSc (Agric))--University of Pretoria, 2001. / Plant Production and Soil Science / unrestricted

The COVID-19 pandemic has reshaped societies and will continue to do so. Despite its salience, micro-scale evidence on how this pandemic reshapes the livelihood strategies of forest communities in sub-Saharan Africa are lacking. To bridge this lacuna, this paper analyses the dynamics around forest-based livelihood strategies in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Bia West District of Ghana. Key informant interviews (n = 8) and a survey of forest-dependent households (n = 100) were conducted to generate relevant data. The study identified fuelwood harvesting, medicinal plants extraction, fruit-gathering and beekeeping as the four livelihood activities that were predominantly practised in the study communities during the COVID-19 pandemic. The analysis established an increase in the number of households that diversified into fuelwood harvesting. Regarding medicinal plants collection as a livelihood strategy, less than 10% of households either diversified or intensified this practice with similar charges recorded in fruit-gathering and beekeeping. The logistic regression disclosed gender, household size, education and income, as the socioeconomic variables that significantly predict livelihood diversification and intensification during the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, the financial, social and physical asset base of households significantly shaped livelihood diversification. Diversification into fuelwood collection, medicinal plants extraction and beekeeping were the strategies that showed a significant positive correlation with the well-being outcomes of forest-based households. While this paper provides fresh evidence to inform the vulnerability dimension of the sustainable livelihoods framework, it further calls for policy interventions to build pandemic-resilient livelihood strategies around forest communities.

Depuis deux décennies, le bois-énergie se développe fortement en Franche-Comté, notamment dans le secteur collectif/tertiaire. Face à l'épuisement prochain des connexes de scierie, la plaquette forestière (bois déchiqueté) est amenée à se développer. La question de l'approvisionnement devient alors centrale pour l'ensemble des acteurs de la filière, soulevant un grand nombre d'enjeux en matière d'aménagement territorial et forestier, de développement local, d'environnement... Parallèlement, des interrogations émergent : quelle quantité d'énergie peut-on mobiliser durablement ? La configuration spatiale et structurelle des espaces boisés a-t-elle une influence sur les processus d'approvisionnement ? Cherche-t-on à minimiser les distances de transport ? Existe-t-il des phénomènes de concurrence spatiale entre les chaufferies ? Afin de comprendre l'organisation actuelle des approvisionnements, nous avons analysé deux jeux de données de traçabilité de plaquettes forestières. Puis, nous avons développé une démarche visant à modéliser des bassins d'approvisionnement locaux, tenant compte des contraintes de renouvelabilité de la ressource, et des conflits d'usage, en couplant diverses sources d'information : indices de végétation issus de l'imagerie satellitaire, données dendrométriques, cartographie forestière, et tables de production. L'objectif de cette démarche était double : d'une part savoir si les deux terrains d'études choisis étaient en mesure d'assurer eux-mêmes l'approvisionnement de leurs propres chaufferies, d'autre part mettre en évidence les phénomènes de concurrence spatiale des différents bassins d'approvisionnement, et la contribution des différents types de peuplement. Cela a notamment permis de montrer l'importance du gisement énergétique des arbres isolés, à notre connaissance encore jamais évalué à une échelle infra-régionale. / In a context of strong increase of fuelwood demand in the collective sector, the supply issue becomes central to all stakeholders, raising many issues relating to land and forestry planning, local development, environment ... Meanwhile, questions emerge: how much energy can be mobilized sustainably? Does the spatial and structural configuration of forests influence the supply process? Do we seek to minimize transport distances? Can we observe spatial competition between the boilers ? To understand the current organization of supplies, we analyzed two sets of data traceability of wood chips. Then, we have developed a model of local supply basins, considering constraints of renewability of the resource, and conflicts of use, by combining various information sources: vegetation index derived from satellite imagery, forest mapping and production tables. The objective of this approach was dual : to determine the quantity of forest chips workable on a territory, and to highlight the spatial competition between the different basins supply, and the contribution of different tree species. This has enabled to show the importance of the energy potential of isolated trees, to our knowledge not previously evaluated in a sub-regional scale.