Chapter 7
Linking Rural Livelihoods and Fuelwood
Demand from Mangroves and Upland
Forests in the Coastal Region of Guinea
Boubacar Siddighi Balde, Alice Karanja, Hajime Kobayashi,
and Alexandros Gasparatos
7.1 Introduction
Access to reliable, affordable and modern energy is a critical precondition for
enhancing human well-being and achieving the sustainable development goals
(SDGs). For example, access to sustainable energy has been enshrined in a dedicated
SDG that aims at “ensuring universal access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and
modern energy for all by the year 2030” (SDG7) (UN 2015). However, apart from
being a key element of SDG7, access to sustainable energy is also central to
achieving other SDGs pertaining to poverty alleviation (SDG1), good health
(SDG3), gender equality (SDG5), ecosystem conservation (SDG15) and climate
action (SDG13), among others (IEA et al. 2019; Rosenthal et al. 2018).
However, most of the rural population in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) relies
extensively on traditional energy sources such as fuelwood, both for household
use and small-scale livelihood activities (World Bank 2017) (see also Chap. 2 Vol.
1; Chap. 5 Vol. 2). About 85% of households across SSA rely on traditional biomass
such as fuelwood, charcoal and animal dung in inefficient traditional cookstoves for
their daily cooking and heating (IEA et al. 2019). Generally, wood-based fuel such
as charcoal and fuelwood are the main energy sources, accounting for 92% of total
wood consumption in SSA (World Bank 2011; IRENA 2018).
Wood-based fuel consumption is expected to further increase in SSA in the
coming decades alongside with the growing urban demand for charcoal (IEA
2017) (Chap. 2 Vol. 1; Chap. 5 Vol. 2). However, it is not clear whether this
B. S. Balde (*) · A. Karanja · A. Gasparatos
Institute for Future Initiatives (IFI), The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
e-mail: karanja.alice@ifi.u-tokyo.ac.jp; gasparatos@ifi.u-tokyo.ac.jp
H. Kobayashi
Tottori Study Center, Open University of Japan, Tottori, Japan
e-mail: khb10625@nifty.com
© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020
A. Gasparatos et al. (eds.), Sustainability Challenges in Sub-Saharan Africa I,
Science for Sustainable Societies, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-4458-3_7
221
Linking Rural Livelihoods and Fuelwood
Demand from Mangroves and Upland
Forests in the Coastal Region of Guinea
Boubacar Siddighi Balde, Alice Karanja, Hajime Kobayashi,
and Alexandros Gasparatos
7.1 Introduction
Access to reliable, affordable and modern energy is a critical precondition for
enhancing human well-being and achieving the sustainable development goals
(SDGs). For example, access to sustainable energy has been enshrined in a dedicated
SDG that aims at “ensuring universal access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and
modern energy for all by the year 2030” (SDG7) (UN 2015). However, apart from
being a key element of SDG7, access to sustainable energy is also central to
achieving other SDGs pertaining to poverty alleviation (SDG1), good health
(SDG3), gender equality (SDG5), ecosystem conservation (SDG15) and climate
action (SDG13), among others (IEA et al. 2019; Rosenthal et al. 2018).
However, most of the rural population in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) relies
extensively on traditional energy sources such as fuelwood, both for household
use and small-scale livelihood activities (World Bank 2017) (see also Chap. 2 Vol.
1; Chap. 5 Vol. 2). About 85% of households across SSA rely on traditional biomass
such as fuelwood, charcoal and animal dung in inefficient traditional cookstoves for
their daily cooking and heating (IEA et al. 2019). Generally, wood-based fuel such
as charcoal and fuelwood are the main energy sources, accounting for 92% of total
wood consumption in SSA (World Bank 2011; IRENA 2018).
Wood-based fuel consumption is expected to further increase in SSA in the
coming decades alongside with the growing urban demand for charcoal (IEA
2017) (Chap. 2 Vol. 1; Chap. 5 Vol. 2). However, it is not clear whether this
B. S. Balde (*) · A. Karanja · A. Gasparatos
Institute for Future Initiatives (IFI), The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
e-mail: karanja.alice@ifi.u-tokyo.ac.jp; gasparatos@ifi.u-tokyo.ac.jp
H. Kobayashi
Tottori Study Center, Open University of Japan, Tottori, Japan
e-mail: khb10625@nifty.com
© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020
A. Gasparatos et al. (eds.), Sustainability Challenges in Sub-Saharan Africa I,
Science for Sustainable Societies, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-4458-3_7
221