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CIFOR–ICRAF publishes over 750 publications every year on agroforestry, forests and climate change, landscape restoration, rights, forest policy and much more – in multiple languages.

CIFOR–ICRAF addresses local challenges and opportunities while providing solutions to global problems for forests, landscapes, people and the planet.

We deliver actionable evidence and solutions to transform how land is used and how food is produced: conserving and restoring ecosystems, responding to the global climate, malnutrition, biodiversity and desertification crises. In short, improving people’s lives.

The potential of agroforestry in the provision of sustainable woodfuel in sub-Saharan Africa.

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Woodfuel plays a critical role in energy provision in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), and is predicted to remain dominant within the energy portfolio of the population in the coming decades. Although current inefficient technologies of production and consumption are associated with negative socio-economic and environmental outcomes, projected charcoal intensive pathways along with urbanization may further accelerate pressures on tree covers. This paper reviews the status of the woodfuel sector in SSA, and estimates the magnitude of impacts of increasing wood demand for charcoal production on tree cover, which will be obviously unsustainable under business-as-usual scenarios. Agroforestry, if widely adopted as an integrated strategy together with improved kilns and stoves, can have a significant impact to reduce wood harvest pressures in forests through sustainably supplying trees on farm. A systematic approach is required to promote multi-purpose agroforestry systems compatible with farmers’ needs under local farming systems and current dryland socio-economic contexts.

DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cosust.2013.12.003
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    Publication year

    2014

    Authors

    Iiyama, M.; Neufeldt, H.; Dobie, P.; Jamnadass, R.; Njenga, M.; Ndegwa, G.

    Language

    English

    Keywords

    wood, land management, land-use, acacia mellifera, boswellia papyrifera, land-use

    Geographic

    Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, Swaziland, Togo, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe

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