IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/rensus/v51y2015icp856-862.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Future prospect and sustainability of wood fuel resources in Tanzania

Author

Listed:
  • Felix, Mwema

Abstract

Tanzania is among the lowest income countries with the majority of the people living below a poverty line of less than US$ 2/day. Its energy sector is dominated by wood fuel, mainly charcoal and firewood with over 75% dependency. Wood resources for charcoal and firewood production are collected from a wide variety of tree species. The country has no formal biofuel policies thus leaving biofuel producers (including charcoal and firewood producers) without a reliable framework. This poses a danger to the forest resources and the environment. Little is known about the empirical findings on future prospect and sustainability of charcoal and firewood resources. This study reviewed over 100 articles on the state of the art of wood fuel resources in Tanzania, and the extent and degree of forest resource utilization and sustainability is assessed. Forest loss is estimated at 0.4 million ha per year. Results suggest that it would take about 85 years for all forest resources to be destroyed completely. Assuming year 2005 as a reference year, generations from year 2090 would be left with no forest resources to meet their needs. The study concludes that future prospect and sustainability of charcoal production and firewood harvesting in the country is at stake. Before any irreversible changes occur, it is therefore necessary to protecting forest resources using proper management strategies such as the use of alternative fuel resources, improved conversion technologies and deployment of participatory forest management.

Suggested Citation

  • Felix, Mwema, 2015. "Future prospect and sustainability of wood fuel resources in Tanzania," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 856-862.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:rensus:v:51:y:2015:i:c:p:856-862
    DOI: 10.1016/j.rser.2015.06.034
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364032115006061
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.rser.2015.06.034?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Agarwal, Bina, 2009. "Gender and forest conservation: The impact of women's participation in community forest governance," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(11), pages 2785-2799, September.
    2. Shaohua Chien & Martin Ravallion, 2001. "How did the world's poorest fare in the 1990s?," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 47(3), pages 283-300, September.
    3. Karekezi, Stephen & Kithyoma, Waeni, 2002. "Renewable energy strategies for rural Africa: is a PV-led renewable energy strategy the right approach for providing modern energy to the rural poor of sub-Saharan Africa?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 30(11-12), pages 1071-1086, September.
    4. Elizabeth J. Z. Robinson & Heidi J. Albers & Charles Meshack & Razack B. Lokina, 2013. "Implementing REDD through community‐based forest management: Lessons from Tanzania," Natural Resources Forum, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 0(3), pages 141-152, August.
    5. Santos Kihwele & Kyeon Hur & Alex Kyaruzi, 2012. "Visions, Scenarios and Action Plans Towards Next Generation Tanzania Power System," Energies, MDPI, vol. 5(10), pages 1-20, October.
    6. Hosier, R. H. & Kipondya, W., 1993. "Urban household energy use in Tanzania : Prices, substitutes and poverty," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 21(5), pages 454-473, May.
    7. Hosier, Richard H. & Mwandosya, Mark J. & Luhanga, Matthew L., 1993. "Future energy development in Tanzania : The energy costs of urbanization," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 21(5), pages 524-542, May.
    8. Sheya, Mohammed S. & J.S. Mushi, Salvatory, 2000. "The state of renewable energy harnessing in Tanzania," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 65(1-4), pages 257-271, April.
    9. Odhiambo, Nicholas M., 2009. "Energy consumption and economic growth nexus in Tanzania: An ARDL bounds testing approach," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(2), pages 617-622, February.
    10. Pauw, Karl & Thurlow, James, 2011. "Agricultural growth, poverty, and nutrition in Tanzania," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(6), pages 795-804.
    11. Allen, Julia C., 1985. "Wood energy and preservation of woodlands in semi-arid developing countries: The case of Dodoma region, Tanzania," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(1-2), pages 59-84.
    12. Khundi, Fydess & Jagger, Pamela & Shively, Gerald & Sserunkuuma, Dick, 2011. "Income, poverty and charcoal production in Uganda," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 13(3), pages 199-205, March.
    13. World Bank, 2014. "World Development Indicators 2014," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 18237, December.
    14. Ephraim Nkonya & Ted Schroeder & David Norman, 1997. "Factors Affecting Adoption Of Improved Maize Seed And Fertiliser In Northern Tanzania," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(1‐3), pages 1-12, January.
    15. Hyman, Eric L., 1987. "The strategy of production and distribution of improved charcoal stoves in Kenya," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 15(3), pages 375-386, March.
    16. Hosier, Richard H., 1993. "Urban energy systems in Tanzania : A tale of three cities," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 21(5), pages 510-523, May.
    17. Torben Birch-Thomsen & Pia Frederiksen & Hans-Otto Sano, 2001. "A Livelihood Perspective on Natural Resource Management and Environmental Change in Semiarid Tanzania," Economic Geography, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 77(1), pages 41-66, January.
    18. Petersen, Lorenz & Sandhovel, Armin, 2001. "Forestry policy reform and the role of incentives in Tanzania," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 2(1), pages 39-55, April.
    19. Wiskerke, W.T. & Dornburg, V. & Rubanza, C.D.K. & Malimbwi, R.E. & Faaij, A.P.C., 2010. "Cost/benefit analysis of biomass energy supply options for rural smallholders in the semi-arid eastern part of Shinyanga Region in Tanzania," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 14(1), pages 148-165, January.
    20. Elizabeth J. Z. Robinson & Heidi J. Albers & Charles Meshack & Razack B. Lokina, 2013. "Implementing REDD through community‐based forest management: Lessons from Tanzania," Natural Resources Forum, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 37(3), pages 141-152, August.
    21. Luoga, E. J. & Witkowski, E. T. F. & Balkwill, K., 2000. "Economics of charcoal production in miombo woodlands of eastern Tanzania: some hidden costs associated with commercialization of the resources," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 35(2), pages 243-257, November.
    22. Hyman, Eric L., 1986. "The economics of improved charcoal stoves in Kenya," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 14(2), pages 149-158, April.
    23. Willy Makundi, 2001. "Potential and Cost of Carbon Sequestration in the Tanzanian Forest Sector," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 6(3), pages 335-353, September.
    24. Hofstad, Ole, 1997. "Woodland Deforestation by Charcoal Supply to Dar es Salaam," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 17-32, May.
    25. Vahrman, Mark, 1974. "Fuel and power in Tanzania," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 2(2), pages 160-165, June.
    26. Smith, Kirk R. & Shuhua, Gu & Kun, Huang & Daxiong, Qiu, 1993. "One hundred million improved cookstoves in China: How was it done?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 21(6), pages 941-961, June.
    27. Mwampamba, Tuyeni Heita, 2007. "Has the woodfuel crisis returned? Urban charcoal consumption in Tanzania and its implications to present and future forest availability," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(8), pages 4221-4234, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Mazbahul G Ahamad & Fahian Tanin & Nawaraj Shrestha, 2021. "Household Smoke-Exposure Risks Associated with Cooking Fuels and Cooking Places in Tanzania: A Cross-Sectional Analysis of Demographic and Health Survey Data," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(5), pages 1-11, March.
    2. Julia Szulecka, 2019. "Towards Sustainable Wood-Based Energy: Evaluation and Strategies for Mainstreaming Sustainability in the Sector," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-21, January.
    3. Bär, Roger & Reinhard, Jürgen & Ehrensperger, Albrecht & Kiteme, Boniface & Mkunda, Thomas & Wymann von Dach, Susanne, 2021. "The future of charcoal, firewood, and biogas in Kitui County and Kilimanjaro Region: Scenario development for policy support," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 150(C).
    4. Helder Filipe dos Santos Viana & Abel Martins Rodrigues & Radu Godina & João Carlos de Oliveira Matias & Leonel Jorge Ribeiro Nunes, 2018. "Evaluation of the Physical, Chemical and Thermal Properties of Portuguese Maritime Pine Biomass," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(8), pages 1-15, August.
    5. Mbanze, Aires Afonso & Viera da Silva, Carina & Ribeiro, Natasha Sofia & Silva, João F. & Santos, José Lima, 2020. "A Livelihood and Farming System approach for effective conservation policies in Protected Areas of Developing Countries: The case study of the Niassa National Reserve in Mozambique," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. D'Agostino, Anthony L. & Urpelainen, Johannes & Xu, Alice, 2015. "Socio-economic determinants of charcoal expenditures in Tanzania: Evidence from panel data," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 472-481.
    2. World Bank, 2010. "Enabling Reforms : A Stakeholder-Based Analysis of the Political Economy of Tanzania’s Charcoal Sector and the Poverty and Social Impacts of Proposed Reforms," World Bank Publications - Reports 2865, The World Bank Group.
    3. Mwampamba, Tuyeni Heita, 2007. "Has the woodfuel crisis returned? Urban charcoal consumption in Tanzania and its implications to present and future forest availability," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(8), pages 4221-4234, August.
    4. Trotter, Philipp A. & McManus, Marcelle C. & Maconachie, Roy, 2017. "Electricity planning and implementation in sub-Saharan Africa: A systematic review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 1189-1209.
    5. Grace Alinaitwe & Olvar Bergland, 2024. "Assessing the Relationship between Fuel and Charcoal Prices in Uganda," Economies, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-19, February.
    6. Maes, Wouter H. & Verbist, Bruno, 2012. "Increasing the sustainability of household cooking in developing countries: Policy implications," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 16(6), pages 4204-4221.
    7. Khundi, Fydess & Jagger, Pamela & Shively, Gerald & Sserunkuuma, Dick, 2011. "Income, poverty and charcoal production in Uganda," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 13(3), pages 199-205, March.
    8. Bailis, Rob & Cowan, Amanda & Berrueta, Victor & Masera, Omar, 2009. "Arresting the Killer in the Kitchen: The Promises and Pitfalls of Commercializing Improved Cookstoves," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 37(10), pages 1694-1705, October.
    9. Trefon, Theodore & Hendriks,Thomas & Kabuyaya, Noël & Ngoy, Balthazar, 2010. "L’économie politique de la filière du charbon de bois à Kinshasa et à Lubumbashi," IOB Working Papers 2010.03, Universiteit Antwerpen, Institute of Development Policy (IOB).
    10. Shrimali, Gireesh & Slaski, Xander & Thurber, Mark C. & Zerriffi, Hisham, 2011. "Improved stoves in India: A study of sustainable business models," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(12), pages 7543-7556.
    11. Wassie, Yibeltal T. & Adaramola, Muyiwa S., 2019. "Potential environmental impacts of small-scale renewable energy technologies in East Africa: A systematic review of the evidence," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 377-391.
    12. Karanja, Alice & Gasparatos, Alexandros, 2019. "Adoption and impacts of clean bioenergy cookstoves in Kenya," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 285-306.
    13. Koch, Susanne, 2017. "International influence on forest governance in Tanzania: Analysing the role of aid experts in the REDD+ process," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 181-190.
    14. Schure, Jolien & Levang, Patrice & Wiersum, K. Freerk, 2014. "Producing Woodfuel for Urban Centers in the Democratic Republic of Congo: A Path Out of Poverty for Rural Households?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 64(S1), pages 80-90.
    15. Adebayo Fashina & Mustafa Mundu & Oluwole Akiyode & Lookman Abdullah & Dahiru Sanni & Living Ounyesiga, 2018. "The Drivers and Barriers of Renewable Energy Applications and Development in Uganda: A Review," Clean Technol., MDPI, vol. 1(1), pages 1-31, May.
    16. Magombeyi, Mercy Tsitsi & Odhiambo, Nicholas Mbaya, 2017. "Dynamic impact of FDI inflows on poverty reduction:Empirical evidence from South Africa," Working Papers 22006, University of South Africa, Department of Economics.
    17. Chambwera, Muyeye & Folmer, Henk, 2007. "Fuel switching in Harare: An almost ideal demand system approach," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(4), pages 2538-2548, April.
    18. Njindan Iyke, Bernard, 2014. "Electricity Consumption, Inflation, and Economic Growth in Nigeria: A Dynamic Causality Test," MPRA Paper 57818, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    19. Shahzad, Syed Jawad Hussain & Kumar, Ronald Ravinesh & Zakaria, Muhammad & Hurr, Maryam, 2017. "Carbon emission, energy consumption, trade openness and financial development in Pakistan: A revisit," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 185-192.
    20. Bär, Roger & Reinhard, Jürgen & Ehrensperger, Albrecht & Kiteme, Boniface & Mkunda, Thomas & Wymann von Dach, Susanne, 2021. "The future of charcoal, firewood, and biogas in Kitui County and Kilimanjaro Region: Scenario development for policy support," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 150(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:rensus:v:51:y:2015:i:c:p:856-862. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/600126/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.