Charcoal production in the Mopane woodlands of Mozambique: what are the trade-offs with other ecosystem services?

Abstract

African woodlands form a major part of the tropical grassy biome and support the livelihoods of millions of rural and urban people. Charcoal production in particular is a major economic activity, but its impact on other ecosystem services is little studied. To address this, our study collected biophysical and social datasets, which were combined in ecological production functions, to assess ecosystem service provision and its change under different charcoal production scenarios in Gaza Province, southern Mozambique. We found that villages with longer histories of charcoal production had experienced declines in wood suitable for charcoal, firewood and construction, and tended to have lower perceived availabilities of these services. Scenarios of future charcoal impacts indicated that firewood and woody construction services were likely to trade-off with charcoal production. However, even under the most extreme charcoal scenario, these services were not completely lost. Other provisioning services, such as wild food, medicinal plants and grass, were largely unaffected by charcoal production. To reduce the future impacts of charcoal production, producers must avoid increased intensification of charcoal extraction by avoiding the expansion of species and sizes of trees used for charcoal production. This is a major challenge to land managers and policymakers in the area.This article is part of the themed issue ‘Tropical grassy biomes: linking ecology, human use and conservation’.

Tropical grassy biomes: linking ecology, human use and conservation

“…Elsewhere, wood demand is anticipated to increase due to increasing populations and a switch to charcoal, which has an increasing international market [77]. The implications of changing wood demands are raised by Woollen et al [78]: wood for construction material is now traded off against wood for charcoal. How changes in wood resources in the context of global change will influence the integrity and functioning of TGBs needs urgent attention.…”

“…Across Africa, Asia and even South America, fuelwood harvesting is a significant activity [12,78]. Although the fuelwood crisis predicted in the 1970s has not materialized, projections surrounding levels of fuelwood sustainability are varied [77].…”

The Marginalization of Sustainable Charcoal Production in the Policies of a Modernizing African Nation

“…The outcome of the nexus between agriculture and charcoal has important implications for forests, given that agriculture generally results in the conversion of forests to cropland i.e., deforestation, whilst charcoal production is more frequently a driver of forest degradation (Ribot, 1999;Chidumayo and Gumbo, 2013;Woollen et al, 2016). At one level, agriculture and charcoal production compete with each other for land, labor, and net primary production, albeit for the common purpose of feeding people.…”

“…As Chidumayo and Gumbo (2013) have stated, woodlands in many tropical countries, including Tanzania, will regenerate within 8-30 years of trees being cut for charcoal. Similarly, Woollen et al (2016) found that areas of Mopane woodland in Mozambique, under long term charcoal production, continued to provide most ecosystem services, so long as the woodland species continued to dominate the area.…”

“…If these assumptions are correct, then we can infer that embedding sustainable charcoal production in national policy will help to safeguard forests, and the ecosystem services that they provide. However, we also recognize that formalization does not guarantee sustainability (Schure et al, 2013), and that there are examples of government attempts to control supply which have, instead, disrupted supply (Ribot, 1999), and of informal production in which forest ecosystem services are sustained (Ribot, 1999;Woollen et al, 2016). We also recognize that there are currently few examples of formalized, sustainable charcoal production in practice (de Miranda et al, 2010;Zulu and Richardson, 2013).…”