TACIT EVASION OR A MISPLACED POLICY GAZE: A POLITICAL ECOLOGY OF THE DEFORESTATION AND CHARCOAL CONUNDRUM IN MALAWI

Abstract

ABSTRACT Although banned in many countries, charcoal production remains a key driver of deforestation in Africa, yet a livelihood source for many, with evidence showing the practice has risen to unprecedented levels. While rural poverty is often framed as the driver, the rise in charcoal consumption among a burgeoning urban population suggests a multiplicity of drivers. Using in-depth interviews with diverse stakeholders in Malawi, this paper examined the underlying drivers of the charcoal conundrum. Although poverty is indeed a driver, our findings suggest the charcoal conundrum is rooted in complex sociopolitical dynamics and class relations at multiple scales. Charcoal production, a highly stigmatized economic activity at the rural scale, is the key source of fuel for a burgeoning urban population lacking affordable alternative energy sources. Our findings further reveal what we theorize as “hierarchical corruption,” featuring an elite class of “big charcoal dealers” who pay bribes to freely transact charcoal while rural people continue to be disproportionately targeted with draconian forest laws. These dynamics suggest a tacit evasion of the real drivers of deforestation and a misplaced policy gaze in forest governance. Contemporary forest policy must look “beyond forest” to address both production and consumption side drivers of deforestation, particularly poverty, and the lack of clean energy alternatives.