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

INDEX
1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................ 1
1.1 Aims and motives of the study ..................................................................................... 4
1.2 Central concepts .......................................................................................................... 5
1.2.1 Biodiversity .............................................................................................. 5
1.2.2 Ecosystem services ................................................................................... 5
1.2.3 Land Use and Land Cover Change (LULCC) ................................................ 6
1.2.4 Forests and deforestation ......................................................................... 6
1.2.5 Woodfuels ................................................................................................ 7
1.2.6 Sustainable Development and livelihoods ................................................. 8
1.2.7 Household ................................................................................................ 8
2 RESEARCH COMPILATION ............................................................................................................. 8
2.1 Research methodology ................................................................................................ 9
2.2 Data and its processing .............................................................................................. 11
2.2.1 Socio-economic data collection and analysis methods ............................ 13
2.2.2 DEM, topographical maps and soil data collection and
processing methods ............................................................................... 16
2.2.3 SPOT- satellite images and their pre-processing ..................................... 18
2.2.4 Supervised classification, mosaicking and comparison
of the SPOT images ................................................................................ 20
2.2.5 LCCS legend and land cover data and its processing ................................ 22
3 LOCAL SETTING OF DAKATCHA WOODLAND, SE KENYA ............................................................. 24
3.1 Physical geography..................................................................................................... 25
3.1.1 Topography ........................................................................................... 25
3.1.2 Soils ....................................................................................................... 26
3.1.3 Climate .................................................................................................. 27
3.1.4 Agro-climatic and agro-ecological zones ................................................ 28
3.1.5 Vegetation cover and species ................................................................. 29
3.2 Socio-economic features ............................................................................................ 31
3.2.1 Household data ...................................................................................... 31
3.2.2 Poverty and Development in the area..................................................... 36
3.2.3 Management of Dakatcha Woodland .................................................... 40
3.2.4 Human influence to the woodlands ........................................................ 42
4 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ....................................................................................................... 44
4.1 Land use and land cover change (LULCC) and deforestation ....................................... 45
4.2 Forest ecosystem services and the vulnerability of natural and human systems ......... 47
4.3 Forest management and land tenure in Kenya ........................................................... 48
4.3.1 Gendered land tenure and resource use ................................................. 51
4.4 The ways forward: sustainable land management, development and livelihoods ....... 52
4.4.1 Sustainable management systems ......................................................... 55
4.4.2 Sustainable livelihoods .......................................................................... 60
4.5 Woodfuel Energy: an issue that ties together forest resources,
livelihoods and sustainable development .................................................................. 63
4.5.1 Sustainable woodfuels?......................................................................... 70
4.5.2 Alternative energy sources ..................................................................... 75
5 RESULTS ...................................................................................................................................... 78
5.1 Socio-economic data from questionnaires and interviews .......................................... 78
5.1.1 General household data ......................................................................... 78
5.1.2 Importance of charcoal to household income ......................................... 81
5.1.3 Forest resource utilization and charcoal production ............................... 85
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