The impact of charcoal production on forest degradation: a case study in Tete, Mozambique.

ABSTRACT: Charcoal production for urban energy consumption is a main driver of forest degradation in sub Saharan Africa. Urban growth projections for the continent suggest that the relevance of this process will increase in the coming decades. Forest degradation associated to charcoal production is difficult to monitor and commonly overlooked and underrepresented in forest cover change and carbon emission estimates. We use a multitemporal dataset of very high-resolution remote sensing images to map kiln locations in a representative study area of tropical woodlands in central Mozambique. The resulting maps provided a characterization of the spatial extent and temporal dynamics of charcoal production. Using an indirect approach we combine kiln maps and field information on charcoal making to describe

SUBMITTER: Sedano F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7430507 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature