Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-g8jcs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-01T03:35:46.408Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A tale of two villages: assessing the dynamics of fuelwood supply in communal landscapes in South Africa

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 September 2012

RUWADZANO MATSIKA ,
BAREND F.N. ERASMUS  and
WAYNE C. TWINE
RUWADZANO MATSIKA*
Affiliation:
School of Animal, Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, WITS 2050, South Africa
BAREND F.N. ERASMUS
Affiliation:
School of Animal, Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, WITS 2050, South Africa
WAYNE C. TWINE
Affiliation:
School of Animal, Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, c/o Wits Rural Facility, Private Bag X420, Acornhoek, 1360, South Africa
*
*Correspondence: Ms R. Matsika Tel: +27117176408 e-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Fuelwood is the dominant source of energy used by most rural households in southern Africa to meet daily domestic energy requirements. Due to limited financial resources, most rural households are unable to make the transition to electricity thus they remain dependant on the woodlands surrounding their settlements as a source of cheap energy. Unsustainable fuelwood harvesting due to increasing demand as a result of growing human populations may result in environmental degradation particularly in the high-density, communal savannah woodlands of South Africa. Evaluating the sustainability of current fuelwood harvesting patterns requires an understanding of the environmental impacts of past logging practices to establish patterns of woodland degradation. This study evaluates impacts of fuelwood harvesting from 1992–2009 on the woodland structure and species composition surrounding two rural villages located within the Kruger to Canyons Biosphere Reserve (Mpumalanga Province, South Africa). Both villages (Welverdiend and Athol) were of similar spatial extent and exhibited similar socioeconomic characteristics. The total wood stock in the communal woodlands of both villages declined overall (with greater losses seen in Welverdiend) and, in Welverdiend, there were also changes in the woodland structure and species diversity of the species commonly harvested for fuelwood over this period. The woodlands in Welverdiend have become degraded and no longer produce fuelwood of preferred species and stem size in sufficient quantity or quality. The absence of similar negative impacts in Athol suggests more sustainable harvesting regimes exist there because of the lower human population and lower fuelwood extraction pressure. The Welverdiend community has annexed neighbouring unoccupied private land in a social response to fuelwood scarcity. Athol residents behaved similarly during drought periods. The potential for future conflict with neighbouring conservation areas within the Kruger to Canyons Biosphere is high if current land uses and fuelwood extraction patterns are maintained.

Keywords

African savannahsrural communitiessustainable harvestingwoodland structure
Type
Papers
Information
Environmental Conservation , Volume 40 , Issue 1 , March 2013 , pp. 71 - 83
Copyright
Copyright © Foundation for Environmental Conservation 2012

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Arnold, M., Köhlin, G. & Persson, R. (2006) Woodfuels, livelihoods and policy interventions: changing perspectives. World Development. 34: 596–611.Google Scholar
Aron, J., Eberhard, A.A. & Gandar, M.V. (1991) Fuelwood deficits in rural South Africa. Biomass and Bioenergy 1: 89–98.Google Scholar
Banks, D.I., Griffin, N., Shackleton, C.M., Shackleton, S.E. & Mavrandonis, J. (1996) Wood supply and demand around two rural settlements in a semi-arid savanna, South Africa. Biomass and Bioenergy 11: 319–331.Google Scholar
Biggs, R., Bohensky, E., Desanker, P.V., Fabricius, C., Lynam, T., Misselhorn, A.A., Musvoto, C., Mutale, M., Reyers, B., Scholes, R.J., Shikongo, S. & van Jaarsveld, A.S. (2004) Nature supporting people: the Southern African Millenium Ecosystem Assessment. Integrated report. Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, Pretoria, South Africa.Google Scholar
Campbell, B. & Byron, N. (2000) Miombo woodlands and rural livelihoods: options and opportunities. In: The Miombo in Transition: Woodlands and Welfare in Africa, ed. Campbell, B., pp. 222–262. Bogor, Malaysia: Center for International Forestry Research.Google Scholar
Cline-Cole, R.A., Main, H.A.C. & Nichol, J.E. (1990) On fuelwood consumption, population dynamics and deforestation in Africa. World Development 18 (4): 513–527.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coetzer, K.L., Erasmus, B.F.N., Witkowski, E.T.F. & Bachoo, A.K. (2010) Land-cover change in the Kruger to Canyons Biosphere Reserve (1993–2006): a first step towards creating a conservation plan for the subregion. South African Journal of Science 106 (7/8): 1–10.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
DME (1998) White Paper on Energy Policy for South Africa. Department of Minerals and Energy Affairs, Pretoria, South Africa.Google Scholar
Dovie, D.B.K., Shackleton, C.M., Witkowski, E.T.F. (2006) Valuation of communal area livestock benefits, rural livelihoods and related policy issues. Land Use Policy 26: 260–271.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fisher, J.T., Witkowski, E.T.F., Erasmus, B.F.N., Van Aardt, J., Asner, G.P., Wessels, K. & Mathieu, R. (2012) Human-modified landscapes: patterns of fine-scale woody vegetation structure in communal savannah rangelands. Environmental Conservation 39 (1): 72–82.Google Scholar
Frost, P. (1996) The ecology of miombo woodlands. In: The Miombo in Transition: Woodlands and Welfare in Africa, ed. Campbell, B., pp. 11–57. Bogor, Malaysia: Centre for International Forestry Research.Google Scholar
Gaugris, J.Y. & van Rooyen, M.W. (2010) Woody vegetation structure in conserved versus communal land in a biodiversity hotspot: a case study in Maputaland, South Africa. South African Journal of Botany 76 (2): 289–298.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ghilardi, A., Guerrero, G. & Masera, O. (2007) A GIS-based methodology for highlighting fuelwood supply/demand imbalances at the local level: a case study for Central Mexico. Biomass and Bioenergy 33: 957–972.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Giannecchini, M., Twine, W. & Vogel, C. (2007) Land cover change and human-environment interactions in a rural cultural landscape in South Africa. The Geographic Journal 173: 26–39.Google Scholar
Karekezi, S., Lata, K. & Coelho, S.T. (2004) Traditional biomass energy: improving its use and moving to modern energy use. Thematic background paper for the International Conference for Renewable Energies, Bonn 2004 [www document]. URL http://www.renewables2004.de/pdf/tbp/TBP11-biomass.pdfGoogle Scholar
Kaschula, S., Twine, W. & Scholes, M.C. (2005) Coppice harvesting of fuelwood species on a South African common: utilizing scientific and indigenous knowledge in community based natural resource management. Human Ecology 33: 387–418.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kindt, R. & Coe, R. (2005) Tree diversity analysis. A manual for common statistical methods for ecological and biodiversity studies [www document]. URL http://www.worldagroforestry.org/treesandmarkets/tree_diversity_analysis.aspGoogle Scholar
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 35: 243–257.Google Scholar
Luoga, E.F., Witkowski, E.T.F. & Balkwill, K. (2002) Harvested and standing wood stocks in protected and communal miombo woodlands of eastern Tanzania. Forest Ecology and Management 164: 15–30.Google Scholar
Luoga, E.F., Witkowski, E.T.F. & Balkwill, K. (2004) Regeneration by coppicing (resprouting) of miombo (African Savanna) trees in relation to land use. Forest Ecology and Management 189: 23–35.Google Scholar
Lykke, A.M. (1998) Assessment o species composition change in savanna vegetation by means of woody plants’ size class distributions and local information. Biodiversity Conservation 7: 1261–1275.Google Scholar
Madubansi, M. & Shackleton, C.M. (2006) Changing energy profiles and consumption patterns following electrification in five rural villages, South Africa. Energy Policy 34: 4081–4092.Google Scholar
Madubansi, M. & Shackleton, C.M. (2007) Changes in fuelwood use and species selection following electrification in the Bushbuckridge lowveld, South Africa. Journal of Environmental Management 83: 416–426.Google Scholar
Obiri, J., Lawes, M. & Mukolwe, M. (2002) The dynamics and sustainable use of high-value tree species of the coastal Pondoland forests of the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. Forest Ecology and Management 166: 131–148.Google Scholar
Pollard, S.R., Perez de Mendiguren, J.C., Joubert, A., Shackleton, C.M., Walker, P., Poulter, T. & White, M. (1998) Save the sand phase 1. Feasibility study: the development of a proposal for a catchment plan for the sand river catchment (Mpumalanga/Northern Province). Report submitted by AWARD to the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry, Pretoria, South Africa.Google Scholar
Pollard, S.R., Shackleton, C. & Carruthers, J. (2003) Beyond the fence: people and the Lowveld landscape. In: The Kruger Experience: Ecology and Management of Savanna Heterogeneity, ed. du Toit, J.T., Rogers, K.H. & Biggs, H.C., pp. 422–446. Washington, DC, USA: Island Press.Google Scholar
R Development Core Team (2011) R: A language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria. ISBN 3-900051-07-0 [www document]. URL http://www.R-project.orgGoogle Scholar
Rutherford, M.C. (1979) Above-ground biomass sub-division in woody species of the savanna ecosystem project study area, Nylsvley. South African National Science Programme report no 36, CSIR, Pretoria, South Africa.Google Scholar
Scholes, R.J. (2009) Syndromes of dryland degradation in Southern Africa. African Journal of Range and Forage Science 26: 113–125.Google Scholar
Shackleton, C.M. (1993) Demography and dynamics of the dominant woody species in a communal and protected area of the Eastern Transvaal lowveld. South African Journal of Botany. 59: 569–574.Google Scholar
Shackleton, C.M. (1997) The prediction of woody plant productivity in the Savanna biome, South Africa. PhD thesis, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.Google Scholar
Shackleton, C.M. (2000) Stump size and the number of coppice shoots for selected savanna tree species. South African Journal of Botany 66: 124–127.Google Scholar
Shackleton, C.M. & Shackleton, S.E. (2004) The importance of non-timber forest products in rural livelihood security and as safety nets: a review of evidence from South Africa. South African Journal of Science 100: 658–664.Google Scholar
Shackleton, C.M., Griffin, N., Banks, D.I., Mavrandonis, J.M. & Shackleton, S.E. (1994) Community structure and species composition along a disturbance gradient in a communally managed South African savanna. Vegetatio 115: 157–168.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thornton, R. (2002) Environment and land in Bushbuckridge, South Africa. University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa [www document]. URL http://hdgc.epp.cmu.edu/misc/BushbrSA2.pdfGoogle Scholar
Tothmeresz, B. (1995) Comparison of different methods for diversity ordering. Journal of Vegetation Science 6: 283–290.Google Scholar
Twine, W., Siphugu, V. & Moshe, D. (2003) Harvesting of communal resources by ‘outsiders’ in rural South Africa: a case of xenophobia or a real threat to sustainability? International Journal of Sustainable Development and World Ecology 10: 263–274.Google Scholar
UNESCO (1996) Biosphere reserves: the Seville strategy and the statutory framework of the world network. UNESCO; Paris, France [www document]. URL http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0010/001038/103849eb.pdfGoogle Scholar
Venter, F.J., Scholes, R.J., Eckhardt, H.C. (2003) The abiotic template and its associated vegetation pattern. In: The Kruger Experience: Ecology and Management of Savanna Heterogeneity, ed. du Toit, J.T., Rogers, K.H. & Biggs, H.C., pp. 83–129. Washington, DC, USA: Island Press,Google Scholar
van Rooyen, N & Bredenkamp, G. (1996) Mixed Lowveld Bushveld. In: Vegetation of South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland, ed. Low, A.B. & Rebelo, A.G.. Pretoria, South Africa: Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism.Google Scholar
von Maltitz, G.E & Scholes, R.J. (1995) The burning of fuelwood in South Africa: when is it sustainable? Environmental Monitoring and Assessment 38: 243–251.Google Scholar
Williams, A. & Shackleton, C.M. (2002) Fuelwood use in South Africa: where to in the 21st century? South African Forestry Journal 196: 1–6.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: File

MATSIKA et al. supplementary material

Appendix 1

Download MATSIKA et al. supplementary material(File)
File 3.9 MB