Abstract
Many rural communities no longer have abundant forest areas for firewood collection. Based on this scenario, we evaluated how the scarcity of forest environments influences the collection and use of this resource in rural areas. A community located in the Atlantic Forest region of northeastern Brazil, which already lacks forest areas for firewood, was selected for field research. We observed that despite this context of forest scarcity, firewood remains the main source of fuel energy in the community. In total, 27 species of wood were cited, with an emphasis on exotic species in terms of number of citations. The perceived wood quality explained the frequency of plant use, but not the number of consumers. This can be explained by the difficulty of access to some species considered of better quality, because in the studied region, the plants are usually collected in private areas. Efforts in conservation strategies are recommended to encourage an increase in the frequency of use of the available exotic species in order to safeguard the native ones.
Resumo
Muitas comunidades rurais já não dispõem de áreas florestais em abundância para obtenção de lenha. Partindo deste cenário, buscamos entender como a escassez de ambientes florestais influencia a coleta e o uso desse recurso em áreas rurais. Para pesquisa de campo, selecionamos uma comunidade inserida na região da mata atlântica do nordeste do Brasil, e que já carece de áreas florestais para a obtenção de lenha. Verificamos que apesar desse contexto de escassez de ambientes florestais, a lenha persiste como principal fonte de energia combustível na comunidade. No total foram citadas 27 espécies utilizadas como lenha, com um destaque para espécies exóticas em termos de número de citações. A qualidade percebida explicou a frequência de uso das plantas, mas não o número de usuários. Isso pode ser explicado pela dificuldade de acesso a algumas espécies consideradas de melhor qualidade, pois na região do estudo as plantas geralmente são coletadas em áreas particulares. São recomendados esforços em estratégias de conservação que estimulem um aumento na frequência de uso das exóticas disponíveis, de modo a salvaguardar as nativas.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Literature Cited
Albuquerque, U.P., Ramos, M.A., Lucena, R.F.P., and N.L. Alencar. 2014. Methods and techniques used to collect ethnobiological data. In: Methods and Techniques in Ethnobiology and Ethnoecology, eds. U.P. Albuquerque, R.F.P. Lucena, and L.V.F.C. Cunha, 15–38. New York: Springer Protocols Handbooks.
———, Soldati, G.T., Ramos, M.A., Melo, J.G., Medeiros, P.M., Nascimento, A.L.B., and W.S. Ferreira Jr. 2015. The influence of the environment on natural resource use: evidence of apparency. In: Evolutionary Ethnobiology, eds. U.P. Albuquerque, P.M. Medeiros, and A. Casas, 131–147. New York: Springer.
Bennett, B.C., and G.T. Prance. 2000. Introduced plants in the indigenous pharmacopoeia of Northern South America. Economic Botany 54:90–102.
Bhatt, B.P., and M.S. Sachan. 2004. Firewood consumption pattern of different tribal communities in Northeast India. Energy Policy 32: 1–6.
Blanco, V., Holzhauer, S., Brown, C., Lagergren, F., Vulturius, G., Lindeskog, M., and M.D.A. Rounsevell. 2017. The effect of forest owner decision-making, climatic change and societal demands on land-use change and ecosystem service provision in Sweden. Ecosystem Services 23: 174–208.
Campanili, M., and W.B. Schaffer. 2010. Mata Atlântica: Patrimônio nacional dos brasileiros. Brasília: MMA.
Chettri, N., Sharma, E., Deb, D.C., and R.C. Sundriyal. 2002. Impact of firewood extraction on tree structure, regeneration and woody biomass productivity in a trekking corridor of the Sikkim Himalaya. Mountain Research and Development 22 (2): 150–158.
Démurger, S., and M. Fournier. 2011. Poverty and firewood consumption: A case study of rural households in northern China. China Economic Review 22: 512–523.
FAO. 2014. El estado de los bosques del mundo: potenciar los beneficios socioeconómicos de los bosques. Roma: FAO.
IBGE. 2014. Pesquisa nacional por amostra de domicílios. Online https://sidra.ibge.gov.br/pesquisa/pnad.
Kituyi, E., Marufu, L., Wandiga, S.O., Jumba, I.O., Andreae, M.O., and G. Helas. 2001. Biofuel availability and domestic use patterns in Kenya. Biomass & Bioenergy 20: 71–82.
Lewis, T., Smith, T.E., Hogg, B., Swift, S., Verstraten, L., Bryant, P., Wehr, B.J., Tindale, N., Menzies, N.W., and R.C. Dalal. 2016. Conversion of sub-tropical native vegetation to introduced conifer forest: Impacts on below-ground and above-ground carbon pools. Forest Ecology and Management 370: 65–75.
Lyra-Lemos, R.P., Mota, M.C.S., Chagas, E.C.O., and F.C. Silva. 2010. Checklist flora de Alagoas: angiospermas. Maceió: Instituto de Meio Ambiente de Alagoas – Herbário MAC.
Mahapatra, A.K., and C.P. Mitchell. 1999. Biofuel consumption, deforestation, and farm level tree growing in rural India. Biomass & Bioenergy 17: 291–30.
Marufu, L. et al. 1997. Domestic biomass burning in rural and urban Zimbabwe -Part A. Biomass & Bioenergy 12: 53–68.
Medeiros, P.M. 2013. Why is change feared? Exotic species in traditional pharmacopoeias. Ethnobiology and Conservation 2:3.
———, Almeida, A., Silva, T., and U.P. Albuquerque. 2011. Pressure indicators of wood resource use in an Atlantic Forest area, northeastern Brazil. Journal of Environmental Management 47: 410–424.
———, Morales, S., and A. Ladio. 2017. A biocultural approach to firewood scarcity in rural communities inhabiting arid environments in Patagonia (Argentina). Ethnobiology and Conservation 6:12.
Palmer, C.T. 2004. The inclusion of recently introduced plants in the Hawaiian ethnopharmacopoeia. Economic Botany 58: S280-S293.
Ramos, M.A., Medeiros, P.M., Almeida, A.L.S., Feliciano, A.L.P., and U.P. Albuquerque. 2008. Can wood quality justify local preferences for firewood in an area of caatinga (dryland) vegetation? Biomass & Bioenergy 32: 503–509.
Reis, D. 2013. Modelagem do barro: Muquém, Rio de Janeiro: IPHAN.
Rothwell, A., Ridoutt, B., Page, G., and W. Bellotti. 2015. Feeding and housing the urban population: Environmental impacts at the peri-urban interface under different land-use scenarios. Land Use Policy 48: 377–388.
Sá e Silva, I.M.M., Marangon, L.C., Hanazaki, N., and U.P. Albuquerque. 2009. Use and knowledge of fuelwood in three rural caatinga (dryland) communities in NE Brazil. Environment, Development and Sustainability 11: 833.
Specht, M.J., Pinto, S.R.R., Albuqueque, U.P., Tabarelli, M., and F.P.L. Melo. 2015. Burning biodiversity: fuelwood harvesting causes Forest degradation in human-dominated tropical landscapes. Global Ecology and Conservation 3: 200–209.
Top, T., Mizoue, N., Kai, S., and T. Nakao. 2004. Variation in woodfuel consumption patterns in response to forest availability in Kampong Thom Province, Cambodia. Biomass and Bioenergy 27: 57–68.
Acknowledgements
The authors acknowledge the residents of the Muquém quilombola community for the hospitality and willingness to participate in the research.
Funding
This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Ethical Approval
“All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.”
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
da Silva, A.P.T., de Medeiros, P.M., Júnior, W.S.F. et al. Does Forest Scarcity Affect the Collection and Use of Firewood by Rural Communities? A Case Study in the Atlantic Forest of Northeastern Brazil. Econ Bot 72, 71–80 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12231-018-9403-9
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12231-018-9403-9