Contested firewood collection in Burkina Faso: Governance, perceptions, and practices

This qualitative study explores how forest governance is perceived and embodied in everyday firewood practices in two rural villages in Burkina Faso. The study specifically looks into women’s and forest guard’s perceptions of firewood collection, access to wood, and the state regulations in place. Such exploration is helpful for showing how women who rely on firewood for their livelihoods respond to and perceive regulations, the synthesizing efforts, and the environmental impacts of firewood collection. To situate the interrelations of forest institutions, perceptions, and practices, the study draws on a critical institutional and feminist political ecology approach. Such an approach sheds light on how firewood governance in Burkina Faso excludes women from deciding over a resource they rely on for everyday life. Moreover, the approach helped illuminate how management by control, monitoring, and sensitizing efforts have a questionable impact on deforestation in forest commons.