Article ID Journal Published Year Pages File Type
1046858 Energy for Sustainable Development 2015 10 Pages PDF
Abstract

•Charcoal production supports war regimes in southern Somalia.•We detect changes (2011–2013) in production sites from high-resolution imagery.•Using a semi-automatic approach the analysis covers a large region (4700 km2).•Identified changes suggest a substantial tree cover loss of 2.7% in two years time.•We discuss options for national-scale charcoal monitoring in Somalia.

Following more than 20 years of civil unrest, environmental information for southern Somalia is scarce. Wood charcoal production and export is a major activity supporting war regimes in this area such as the extreme Islamist group Al-Shabaab. However, little quantitative information exists on the extent of this charcoal production. In this study, we developed a semi-automatic detection method to identify charcoal production sites from very high resolution (0.5 m) satellite imagery. We then applied it to a 4700 km2 area along the Juba River in southern Somalia using 2011 and 2013 WorldView-1 imagery. Based on the sites detected exclusively for 2013 we estimated an average production of 24,000 tonnes of charcoal and 2.7% tree loss for the two-year interval, using literature- and local-knowledge-based assumptions on likely ranges of kiln and tree parameters. Our large-area assessment helps to better understand the dimension and impact of charcoal production in southern Somalia and reveals a rapid depletion of tree cover. The analysis provides a first step towards the development of a charcoal production monitoring system that could be extended to other parts of the country.

Related Topics
Physical Sciences and Engineering Energy Energy (General)
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