Kirubi 2008; Lee et al. 2009). The second reason revolves around cultural factors
and traditional taste preferences. On the one hand, according to many respondents,
the salt produced through traditional techniques contains many impurities due to
fuelwood combustion. However, traditional salt producers reported that due to the
lower smoke emissions, mangrove fuelwood combustion tends to provide higher
quality salt compared to salt produced with fuelwood from upland forests. Many
studies have highlighted how cultural and taste-related reasons can affect the type of
fuel used for household cooking and small-scale agricultural processing in some
SSA contexts (Atanassov 2010; Kaburi and Medley 2011; Akintan et al. 2018).
Finally, the increasing urban demand drives to a large extent fuelwood extraction
from mangrove forests. For example, most of the poles and chopped wood extracted
from the mangrove forest are marketed to construction operators, food processors
and fuelwood retailers in surrounding cities (Sects. 7.3.1–7.3.2). Although this was
not part of this analysis, it is highly possible that the rising urban demand and the
logging capabilities of external operators might outweigh the wood extraction
abilities of local communities and forest regeneration capacity. Such effects have
been identified in many different parts of SSA (Munslow, 2013; Mwampamba 2007;
Chambwera 2004) and often cannot be sustained by local forests (Iiyama et al. 2014;
Arnold et al. 2006).
7.4.2 Policy Implications and Recommendations
Throughout this chapter, we have outlined the strong linkages between multiple
policy objectives related to energy use, ecosystem degradation and local livelihoods
in coastal Guinea. These linkages suggest the strong connection between many
SDGs, namely, SDG1 (No poverty), SDG2 (Zero hunger), SDG 7 (Affordable and
clean energy), SDG 9 (Industry, innovation and infrastructure) and SDG15 (Life on
land) (Sect. 7.1). Below we identify some policy and practice interventions that
could possibly reduce negative trade-offs between the aforementioned policy objectives and underlying SDGs.
The negative effects associated with household energy consumption and wood
extraction could be overcome with the promotion and dissemination of modern
cookstoves and fuels such as kerosene, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), biogas and
electricity. This can help limit the reliance of local communities on traditional
biomass for cooking, having many environmental and socioeconomic co-benefits
that span multiple SDGs (Karanja and Gasparatos 2019; Rosenthal et al. 2018).
However, as many studies across SSA have shown, it is a different thing to promote
and disseminate clean cooking options, and a different thing to ensure their sustained
adoption and use (Jürisoo et al. 2018; Shankar et al. 2014) (see also Chap. 2 Vol. 1;
Chap. 5 Vol. 2). To achieve this, it would require a series of different interventions
that address contextual factors such as fuel and stove affordability (Schlag and
Zuzarte 2008; Shankar et al. 2014; ESMAP 2015; Karanja and Gasparatos 2019),
local cooking traditions and socio-cultural issues (Akintan et al. 2018), negative
7 Linking Rural Livelihoods and Fuelwood Demand from Mangroves and Upland. . .
237
and traditional taste preferences. On the one hand, according to many respondents,
the salt produced through traditional techniques contains many impurities due to
fuelwood combustion. However, traditional salt producers reported that due to the
lower smoke emissions, mangrove fuelwood combustion tends to provide higher
quality salt compared to salt produced with fuelwood from upland forests. Many
studies have highlighted how cultural and taste-related reasons can affect the type of
fuel used for household cooking and small-scale agricultural processing in some
SSA contexts (Atanassov 2010; Kaburi and Medley 2011; Akintan et al. 2018).
Finally, the increasing urban demand drives to a large extent fuelwood extraction
from mangrove forests. For example, most of the poles and chopped wood extracted
from the mangrove forest are marketed to construction operators, food processors
and fuelwood retailers in surrounding cities (Sects. 7.3.1–7.3.2). Although this was
not part of this analysis, it is highly possible that the rising urban demand and the
logging capabilities of external operators might outweigh the wood extraction
abilities of local communities and forest regeneration capacity. Such effects have
been identified in many different parts of SSA (Munslow, 2013; Mwampamba 2007;
Chambwera 2004) and often cannot be sustained by local forests (Iiyama et al. 2014;
Arnold et al. 2006).
7.4.2 Policy Implications and Recommendations
Throughout this chapter, we have outlined the strong linkages between multiple
policy objectives related to energy use, ecosystem degradation and local livelihoods
in coastal Guinea. These linkages suggest the strong connection between many
SDGs, namely, SDG1 (No poverty), SDG2 (Zero hunger), SDG 7 (Affordable and
clean energy), SDG 9 (Industry, innovation and infrastructure) and SDG15 (Life on
land) (Sect. 7.1). Below we identify some policy and practice interventions that
could possibly reduce negative trade-offs between the aforementioned policy objectives and underlying SDGs.
The negative effects associated with household energy consumption and wood
extraction could be overcome with the promotion and dissemination of modern
cookstoves and fuels such as kerosene, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), biogas and
electricity. This can help limit the reliance of local communities on traditional
biomass for cooking, having many environmental and socioeconomic co-benefits
that span multiple SDGs (Karanja and Gasparatos 2019; Rosenthal et al. 2018).
However, as many studies across SSA have shown, it is a different thing to promote
and disseminate clean cooking options, and a different thing to ensure their sustained
adoption and use (Jürisoo et al. 2018; Shankar et al. 2014) (see also Chap. 2 Vol. 1;
Chap. 5 Vol. 2). To achieve this, it would require a series of different interventions
that address contextual factors such as fuel and stove affordability (Schlag and
Zuzarte 2008; Shankar et al. 2014; ESMAP 2015; Karanja and Gasparatos 2019),
local cooking traditions and socio-cultural issues (Akintan et al. 2018), negative
7 Linking Rural Livelihoods and Fuelwood Demand from Mangroves and Upland. . .
237