what effect does a growing human population have on the supply of forest trees
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Because so much of their fuel has traditionally been in the form of fuelwood, it can be expected that declines in wood resources could result in fuel shortages for many rural households. Fuel shortages can have a variety of harmful effects. For example, they may influence the amount of food supplied or cooked. If there is less fuel or time for cooking, consumption of uncooked and reheated food may increase. This may cause a serious rise in disease incidence as few uncooked foods can be properly digested and cooking is necessary to remove parasites. A decrease in the number of meals provided may have a particularly damaging effect on child nutrition, as children may be unable to consume enough of the often over-starchy staple food in one meal.
However, many other factors are associated with changes in dietary customs which should not be attributed to fuel shortages alone - in many situations the lack of food is so great that fuel shortages play only a minor role in determining diets. Nor is it the case that decreasing availability of wood necessarily leads to shortages of fuel. It is also not clear that planting trees specifically selected to produce fuelwood rather than a mix of products is necessarily an appropriate response where fuel shortages do exist.¹
More exhaustive study of a wide range of situations in which the fuelwood supply situation had been identified as worsening have repeatedly - but not always - disclosed that domestic fuel shortages were much less than had been understood initially. The reasons for this include the following:
· much of the wood used for fuel may come from dead wood, or trees and shrubs outside the forest, so that the drain on the forest growing stock is limited;
· other biomass fuels, such as crop residues and dried dung, may account for a sizeable part of overall use;
· these non-forest and non-wood resources may be renewing themselves, or being renewed, at rates able to sustain current levels of use.
In addition, people respond spontaneously to decreases in fuelwood supplies through a number of adjustments that enable them to maintain their cooked food situation. For those with land, the adjustment process may include using more of the woody material grown on their own land and making changes in cropping patterns to include species, such as pigeon pea (Cajanus cajan) which provide woody residues which can be used for fuel. For others, one response is the often cited one of collecting fuelwood from resources further afield. Others include more careful and economical use of available supplies and shifts to other readily available biomass fuels such as crop residues and dried dung.
Because so much of their fuel has traditionally been in the form of fuelwood, it can be expected that declines in wood resources could result in fuel shortages for many rural households. Fuel shortages can have a variety of harmful effects. For example, they may influence the amount of food supplied or cooked. If there is less fuel or time for cooking, consumption of uncooked and reheated food may increase. This may cause a serious rise in disease incidence as few uncooked foods can be properly digested and cooking is necessary to remove parasites. A decrease in the number of meals provided may have a particularly damaging effect on child nutrition, as children may be unable to consume enough of the often over-starchy staple food in one meal.
However, many other factors are associated with changes in dietary customs which should not be attributed to fuel shortages alone - in many situations the lack of food is so great that fuel shortages play only a minor role in determining diets. Nor is it the case that decreasing availability of wood necessarily leads to shortages of fuel. It is also not clear that planting trees specifically selected to produce fuelwood rather than a mix of products is necessarily an appropriate response where fuel shortages do exist.¹
More exhaustive study of a wide range of situations in which the fuelwood supply situation had been identified as worsening have repeatedly - but not always - disclosed that domestic fuel shortages were much less than had been understood initially. The reasons for this include the following:
· much of the wood used for fuel may come from dead wood, or trees and shrubs outside the forest, so that the drain on the forest growing stock is limited;
· other biomass fuels, such as crop residues and dried dung, may account for a sizeable part of overall use;
· these non-forest and non-wood resources may be renewing themselves, or being renewed, at rates able to sustain current levels of use.
In addition, people respond spontaneously to decreases in fuelwood supplies through a number of adjustments that enable them to maintain their cooked food situation. For those with land, the adjustment process may include using more of the woody material grown on their own land and making changes in cropping patterns to include species, such as pigeon pea (Cajanus cajan) which provide woody residues which can be used for fuel. For others, one response is the often cited one of collecting fuelwood from resources further afield. Others include more careful and economical use of available supplies and shifts to other readily available biomass fuels such as crop residues and dried dung.
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