Burning of Biomass in the Democratic Republic of Congo

Bilonda, Mireille K.

doi:10.1007/978-94-007-0808-2_5

Cited by 2 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…One specific driver absent from our conclusions is the extraction of fuelwood and harvesting for charcoal, which is being reported as a significant cause of deforestation and degradation in Congo Basin countries and has the potential to increase [116][117][118] . Access to electrical infrastructure is very limited in the study region, making populations entirely dependent on charcoal for preparing food 116,119 .…”

Section: Direct Drivers Of Changementioning

confidence: 99%

Are deforestation and degradation in the Congo Basin on the rise? An analysis of recent trends and associated direct drivers.

Shapiro¹,

d’Annunzio²,

Jungers

et al. 2022

Preprint

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The Congo Basin hosts the largest continuous tract of forest in Africa, regulating global climate while providing essential resources and livelihoods for humans, while harbouring extensive biodiversity. The threats to these forests are expected to increase. A regional collaborative effort has produced the first systematically validated remote sensing assessment of deforestation and degradation in six central African countries for 2015-2020 period, along with a quantification of associated direct drivers of change. Deforestation and degradation (DD) are not observed to be increasing since 2017 are occurring primarily in already fragmented corridor forests. We assess multiple, overlapping drivers and show that the rural complex, a combination of small-scale agriculture, villages, and roads contributes to the majority of DD. Industrial drivers such as mining and forestry are far less common, although their impacts on carbon and biodiversity could be more permanent and significant than informal activities. Artisanal forestry is the only driver that is observed to be consistently increasing over time. Our assessment produces information relevant for climate change mitigation which require detailed information on multiple direct drivers to target activities and investments.

show abstract

Section: Direct Drivers Of Changementioning

confidence: 99%

Are deforestation and degradation in the Congo Basin on the rise? An analysis of recent trends and associated direct drivers.

Shapiro¹,

d’Annunzio²,

Jungers

et al. 2022

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…attributed to the biomass burning activities that include forest and maquis fires and the burning of agricultural wastes (Bilonda, 2020). Other CO contributing emission sources include domestic fires and motor vehicle emissions (Kganyago and Shikwambana, 2019).…”

Section: Accepted Manuscriptmentioning

confidence: 99%

Did COVID-19 Lockdown Restrictions have an Impact on Biomass Burning Emissions in Sub-Saharan Africa?

Kganyago

Shikwambana

2021

Aerosol Air Qual. Res.

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Across Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), biomass burning for land clearance, grazing management, and eradication of invasive plant species emit various pollutants into the atmosphere and thus affect air quality, human health, and microclimates. The seasonality of fire events generally follows that of rainfall. Since the outbreak of COVID-19 in Africa in February 2020, several countries have implemented lockdown regulations that restrict mobility, trade, and other socioeconomic activities. It is not clear how the lockdown restrictions would affect wildfire spread, density, and emissions. This study sought to address this gap by analysing changes in Black Carbon (BC), smoke+polluted dust AOD, and Carbon monoxide (CO), as well as the burned area (BA) and fire density using multi-source data at periods consistent with lockdown restrictions. Generally, the results indicated an increase in emissions (CO, BC, smoke+polluted dust AOD) due to COVID-19 lockdown. Specifically, increases of 0.008 mol/m 2 in CO and 20% in smoke+polluted dust AOD were observed in the SSA region during COVID-19 lockdown. The majority of emissions resulted from the burning of forest cover (FC), cultivated lands (CL), and shrublands (SL) due to escaped fires and agricultural activities. The BA and fire density were also higher in the COVID-19 year (2020) than the previous year (2019), which was suspected to be caused by the closure of or not fully operated fire authorities due to the COVID-19 lockdown. The increasing biomass burning emissions, as shown here, have important implications for air quality and public health.

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Burning of Biomass in the Democratic Republic of Congo

Cited by 2 publications

References 5 publications

Are deforestation and degradation in the Congo Basin on the rise? An analysis of recent trends and associated direct drivers.

Are deforestation and degradation in the Congo Basin on the rise? An analysis of recent trends and associated direct drivers.

Did COVID-19 Lockdown Restrictions have an Impact on Biomass Burning Emissions in Sub-Saharan Africa?

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