Socioeconomic and Environmental Impacts of Charcoal Production Activities of Rural Households in Mecha District, Ethiopia

Abstract

Ethiopia is one of the largest charcoal-producing countries in Africa where its urban consumers burn over 3 million tons per year. The purpose of this study was to measure the amount of charcoal produced and its related environmental and socioeconomic impact in the study area. A total of 305 respondents were selected by using a simple random sampling technique. The amount of greenhouse gas emissions from charcoal production was analyzed based on the Intergovernmental Panel on climate change quantification techniques, and the impact of charcoal production on households’ income was analyzed using propensity score matching. The results revealed that the annual charcoal production rate and emission of carbon dioxide equivalent have an increasing trend at an alarming rate in the study area. From propensity score matching analysis, the economic impact of charcoal production has a positive difference of 0.43813162 as compared to nonproducers. Socioeconomic factors like land size, eucalyptus coverage, agricultural extension, market distance, and the number of oxen have a highly significant effect but variables like sex, family size, education status, credit services, and marital status had no significant effect on charcoal production. In general, even though charcoal production is economically having a positive impact on households’ annual aggregate income; it has disproportionality adverse effect on the environment like air pollution in addition to sophisticated respiratory health problems. Therefore, responsible institutions and planners should have focused on the multidimensional effect of traditional charcoal production on environmental issues and sophisticated health problems especially on employed laborers and nearby residents.

Analysis of Charcoal Producers Perceptions of Its Production, Forest Degradation, and Governance in Wolaita, Southern Ethiopia’s Dry Afromontane Forests

“…Te majority (82.65%) of charcoal producers are farmers, followed by civil servants (10.2%) (Table 2; Supplementary table 2). Tis result is consistent with that of [6] in Mecha District (Ethiopia), where they reported that most charcoal producer farmers' primary occupation was charcoal production following farming activity. Tis is described by the high contribution of charcoal to household cash income and supports the declaration by Angelsen et al [1] that forest income contributes more to regular household income than is otherwise known.…”

“…Te chi-square test of independence showed that there was a signifcant association between gender and forest degradation (χ 2 � 13.225) at a 5% (P < 0.05) level of signifcance. In most of the charcoal producers (54.08%), the age ranged from 20 to 43 years, [6,8,38,39] in Narok County, Niger State, Oyo State, and Mecha District, respectively. Te chi-square test of independence showed that there was no signifcant association between age and forest degradation (χ 2 � 3.234) at the P > 0.1 signifcance level.…”

“…In Eastern Uganda, for example, 98.8% of rural households use fuelwood for cooking food and then preserving it [5]. Charcoal producers can use free raw materials collected from natural forests or other sources and turn them into marketable commodities in high demand [6]. About 230,000 tons of charcoal are being used per year for domestic purposes in Ethiopia [6,7].…”

“…Charcoal producers can use free raw materials collected from natural forests or other sources and turn them into marketable commodities in high demand [6]. About 230,000 tons of charcoal are being used per year for domestic purposes in Ethiopia [6,7]. Tis proves the signifcance that wood fuel plays in meeting the energy demand of developing countries [8], mainly Ethiopia, as the country's renewable energy sector is still in its infancy stage [9].…”

“…On the other hand, there is a forecasted 40% upswing in biomass energy demand across Africa by 2040 [14]. Similarly, as [15,16] indicated, about 90% of the Ethiopian population depends on biomass for its energy needs, of which wood fuel (fuelwood and charcoal) accounts for the greatest proportion [6,17].…”