Changing land management: A case study of charcoal production among a group of pastoral women in northern Tanzania

Challenging economic and environmental conditions, coupled with increasing population, have led to changes in the priorities and activities of rural Africans. In Tanzania's savanna woodlands a growing dependency on non-farm extractive activities such as firewood supply and charcoal production is placing increasing pressure on local resources. Although the actual impact that fuelwood consumption has on tree cover is neither well documented nor completely understood, deforestation due to extractive practices for commercial charcoal sales has the potential to have a particularly profound impact on semi-arid savanna systems in Tanzania where forest and bush regeneration are especially slow. This study investigates land use conflicts and recent changes that have led to major shifts in resource management and use associated with the extraction of fuelwood for charcoal production in the Maasai village of Engikareti in northern Tanzania where charcoal serves as a cash crop for a growing number of women. In 2005, more than 200 women (four to six percent of the village population) removed an estimated 4000 trees to provide subsistence income for their families. Population growth, drought, social and economic marginalization, and a lack of other marketable resources are factors leading to rapidly increasing rates of extraction. While demand for fuelwood for charcoal production is unlikely to deplete forest cover on a large scale over the short term, imbalances between the patterns of demand and availability foreshadow potential localized scarcities and the degradation of savanna vegetation.

► Dependence on fuelwood for energy is placing pressure on forest resources.
► Charcoal serves as a cash crop for a growing number of women.
► Producers made up 4–6% of the village population in 2005.
► Production is unsustainable over the long term and may lead to forest degradation.