Land use change, fuel use and respiratory health in Uganda

Abstract

This paper examines how biomass supply and consumption are affected by land use change in Uganda. We find that between 2007 and 2012 there was a 22% reduction in fuelwood sourced from proximate forests, and an 18% increase in fuelwood sourced from fallows and other areas with lower biomass availability and quality. We estimate a series of panel regression models and find that deforestation has a negative effect on total fuel consumed. We also find that access to forests, whether through ownership or proximity, plays a large role in determining fuel use. We then explore whether patterns of biomass fuel consumption are related to the incidence of acute respiratory infection using a cross-sectional data set of 1209 women and 598 children. We find a positive and significant relationship between ARI and the quantity of fuelwood from non-forest areas; a 100 kilogram increase in fuelwood sourced from a non-forest area results in a 2.4% increase in the incidence of ARI for children. We find the inverse effect of increased reliance on crop residues. As deforestation reduces the availability of high quality fuelwood, rural households may experience higher incidence of health problems associated with exposure to biomass burning.

The Rwenzori Mountains, a landslide-prone region?

“…Landslides inventory are in line with and validate the global assessment model by Hong et al (2007).…”

“…In this global map, the Rwenzori Mountains do not appear as very landslide-prone. Hong et al (2007) use a similar approach, taking into account topography, soil type, soil texture, and land cover type. The maximum grid size for these layers is 0.25° (Hong et al 2007).…”

“…Hong et al (2007) use a similar approach, taking into account topography, soil type, soil texture, and land cover type. The maximum grid size for these layers is 0.25° (Hong et al 2007). According to this susceptibility map, the broader region around the Rwenzori Mountains is indicated to have moderate to high susceptibility (Hong and Adler 2008).…”

“…Global landslide hazard and susceptibility maps have been constructed by Nadim et al (2006), Hong et al (2007), and Hong and Adler (2008). The global hazard map by Nadim et al (2006) is constructed using base layers for lithology, climate, seismic activity, and topography.…”

Applying the Water-Energy-Food Nexus to the Charcoal Value Chain

“…Food security for up to three billion individuals (Jagger and Shively, 2014;Urmee and Gyamfi, 2014) depends on bioenergy for cooking (Makungwa et al, 2013), with wood based bioenergy accounting for roughly 10% of global primary energy (Bailis et al, 2015). In SSA, up to 90% of the primary energy consumption are based on wood (Sosovele, 2010), representing up to 3% of national GDP, with charcoal being the preferred choice of urban households (Santos et al, 2017).…”