Socio-Economic Analysis of Wood Charcoal Production as a Significant Output of Forest Bioeconomy in Africa

Abstract

Wood charcoal (WCH) is a sustainable biofuel for rural and urban users because of its higher energy density and emission of marginal smoke when compared with firewood. Besides helping the poor majority who cannot afford kerosene, electricity or liquid petroleum gas (LPG), WCH is a key source of income and livelihood. This work aimed at quantifying the volume of WCH production as well as appraising its socio-economics, including environmental impacts, especially the impact of long-term deforestation and forest degradation in Africa. Historically robust data from the databases of UN-FAO, FAOSTAT, International Energy Agency (IEA), United Nations Statistics Division, UN-DESA energy statistics yearbook, and the Forest Resources Assessment (FRA) were used. The data analysis involved descriptive statistics, multivariate analysis, and geospatial techniques. The result revealed that East Africa had the highest average wood charcoal production which was 32,058,244 tonnes representing 43.2% of the production whereas West Africa had 23,831,683 tonnes denoting 32.1%. Others were North Africa (8,650,207 tonnes), Middle Africa (8,520,329 tonnes), and South Africa (1,225,062 tonnes) representing 11.6%, 11.5% and 1.6% respectively. The correlation matrix showed that WCH production for the three decades had a significant positive correlation with all the measured parameters (such as areas of forest cover, export quantity, export value, GDP, human population, climate season, average income per citizen, and literacy rate). Wood charcoal is an essential livelihood support system. New policies including commercial wood charcoal production and licensing for revenue and ecological sustainability are required. Enterprise-based approaches for poverty reduction, smallholders’ tree-growing, wood charcoal-energy conserving technologies, improved electricity supply and agricultural productivity are encouraged. The novelty of this study can also be explained by the diverse parameters examined in relation to WCH production which no other studies in the region have done.