The Significance and Sustainability of Charcoal Production in the ...

containing a vegetation association dominated by trees of any size, whether exploitable or not,
capable of producing wood or other products, potentially capable of influencing climate,
exercising an influence on the soil, water regime, and providing habitat for wildlife, and
includes woodlands” (GOK 2005: 6). Forests cover about 30 percent of Earth’s land surface
and regulate the Earth’s climate through the carbon cycle as they contain 77 percent of all
carbon stored in vegetation and 39 percent of carbon stored in soils. They sequester and store
more carbon per hectare than any other land cover type, and provide multiple ecosystem
sercives (Eliasch 2008: 30; GOK 2005: 24).
Deforestation is defined by the UNFCCC as the direct human-induced conversion of forested
land to non-forested land. Forest degradation occurs when a forest is damaged – for example
by cutting down a proportion of the trees as in selective logging (Eliasch 2008: 19). Estimated
13 million hectares of forests are converted to other land uses each year while 5.5 million
hectares are afforestated and reforestated (A/R) yearly, mainly in the temperate regions.
Afforestation is defined by the IPCC as the planting of new forests on lands that historically
have not contained trees, where as reforestation refers to the establishment of trees on land
that has been cleared of forest within the recent past. The enhancement of damaged forests to
re-establish a forest to its natural structure and carbon stock is called restoration (Eliasch 2008:
20). However, restoring forest cover rarely returns the carbon storage and biodiversity extent
to the level found in the original forests (ibid. 48).
1.2.5 Woodfuels
Woodfuels are any type of biofuel that is derived directly or indirectly from trees and shrubs
grown on forest and non-forest land (FAO 2004: 16). According to FAO (2010a: vii) wood
energy is the dominant source of energy for over 2 billion people and 14 percent of world’s
total primary energy is provided by biofuels, especially fuelwood and charcoal but also crop
residues and animal dung. Two main types in Kenya; fuelwood that describes woodfuel where
the original composition of the wood is preserved, and charcoal that is carbonized wood, are
used for domestic cooking and heating, which makes them vital to the nutrition of the poor
rural and urban households (FAO 2010a: 4-5). Extraction of biomass for woodfuels causes
deforestation and forest degradation, but also offers income to forest adjacent people,
especially in developing countries (Diaz-Chavez et al. 2010: 70; FAO 2010a: iiv).
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