Prospects for Coal Briquettes as a Substitute Fuel for Wood and ...

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The priincipal causes of deforestatdon in developing countrjes usual 7y
can be attributed to three factors: (1) the clearing of land for
subsistence and pl antatian agriculture; (2) the production of charcoal
to meet rapidly rising demands by urban populations; and (3) excesslve
and inefficient commerci a1 timber harvssti ng for domestic and export
construction and manufacturing IndJstries. The demand for fisewoood by
rural populations is generally not the maJw cause of deforestation.
Rural firewood demand is often characterized by the cuttfng of branches
from live trees, shrubsr and bushesI and gathering of seed wood and does
not always require the destruction of whole trees. In HaitSr for
exampl er studies indicate that househol d caoki ng is done most often with
scavenged deadwood, On the other hand, mal 1 industri a1 and cmmerci al
fuelwood consumer^ in Haiti do cut 1 ive trees.
C, THE ENVIRONMENTAL PND S0CIOEC:ONQMIC IMPACTS OF DEFORESTATION
ARE BOTH PERVASIVE MD CQIU(PLEY.
The rate of deforestation has been esttmated at about 7.3 rnilll’an
hectares per year for tropical forasts and about 4 mill ion hectares per
year in semi-arid regions.C81 New wood suppl ies frm reforestation
programs have had 1 ittle real impact to date. The Food and Agriculture
Organization (FA01 estimates that for every ten hectares of cl eared
forest there is only one hectar.9 reg1 anted, C 63 The environmental
impacts of land clearance are cumulative and usually begin with reduced
i nf il trati on ratesl increased w ater runof fl and i ncreased soi 1
temperatures. Water and w ind erosion quickly sets In motion an al most
Irreversible process of soil degradation. In West Africap soil loss
from cultivated fields is as much as 6300 times greater than that for
forest land; in Senegal8 soil loss from grounanut cultivation is nearly
750 times greater than that for dry forest.LJ.51 Deforestation also
reduces up1 and water storage and Intensifies sll tati on of reservoi rs and
rivers resultfng in higher fncidences of seasonal flooding, whr”ch leads
to additional soil erosion. Mareoverl the removal af bush vegetation in
arid and semi-arid regions contributes to the onslaught of
deserti f icati on. In some areas8 particul arl y the Indi an subcontl nent,
the rural population has turned to the burning of‘ dung and agricultural
residues, The use of these fuels deprives the land of crucially needed
nutrients and soil condittoners. The end result is a dramatic decline
in agricul tural product-ivity--the backbone of a1 1 devel oping countries.
Reduced agrdcul tural productivity sets i n motion a cycl e of unempl oyment
and underemployment that serves only to accelerate the mlgrall’an of
rural populations to overly crwdad urban centers. The scarclty of
fuel wood al so means that wood gatherersr primarily wmen and chS1 dt-en,
must now spend consdderably more time in search of feaelwaod, For
exampl el in up3 and areas of Nepal househol ds are spendfng fr
workdays per year on firewood col‘~lec-tian, and up to 300 workdays pes
year l”n some parts of Tanzania hay& been abserved.Cl 1 The scarcity of
wood hasr in most urban areass resulted in the creation of markets for
fuelwood. These markets have placed a heavy burden on the cash
resources of the rural and poor urban populations. In the capital of