CNH-EX: Inside the Charcoal Trade: Investigating the Dynamic Intersections Between Economic Development, Urbanization, and Forest Degradation in Mozambique, 2012-2015 (ICPSR 38700)

Time Period(s) View help for Time Period(s)

Study Purpose View help for Study Purpose

The purpose of this study was to make three key contributions to advancing knowledge and understanding within the earth sciences (both physical and socio-economic), development studies, and the integrative research community by:

• developing new theoretical insights into what incentivizes human behavior regarding natural resource use under rapidly changing economic, demographic, and environmental contexts via an examination of charcoal production networks
• enhancing existing methodologies to identify forest degradation processes in data scarce tropical forest ecosystems by incorporating ground-based biophysical and socio-economic information on charcoal production and consumption into models previously relying only on remotely sensed data
• improving the ability to forecast patterns of charcoal supply and demand, forest degradation, and the evolution of this coupled system under different scenarios of socio-economic and climate change.

Study Design View help for Study Design

The initial phase of research design included primary data collection through field surveys of urban charcoal consumers and rural charcoal producers, and field transects of forest stands in order to map charcoal production sites used in the last 10 years. For the urban consumer field surveys, researchers interviewed lower-income consumers by randomly selecting individuals at the two main informal markers in Tete where charcoal is sold. In cases where purchases were made at informal markets by domestic servants, these individuals were given cards with information regarding the study and the contact information of researchers, and a written request to employers to text the researchers if they were willing to participate in the study. To sample individuals who buy in bulk, researchers conducted interviews with all customers at randomly selected, geographically disperse roadside stalls on the three main roads leading to Tete. In total, researchers interviewed 370 consumers at informal markets and roadside stalls. For rural producer field surveys, researchers used a snowball sampling method to interview small-scale producers, identified through networks of charcoal sellers and individuals who manage informal markets and roadside stalls. After explaining the study, researchers asked each participant to give three names of others who they think would be willing to participate. In total, researchers interviewed 74 rural producers. For the field transects, researchers conducted over a three-week period longitudinal transects to identify, geo-code, and date present and past kiln locations. First, researchers categorized forested land in forest stands based on crown cover using CENACARTA (Mozambique National Cartography and Remote Sensing Centre) satellite-based land cover-land use maps. This stratification into different forest stands allowed researchers to achieve a representative sample of the different forest conditions in the study area and therefore reduce sampling uncertainties. Researchers selected an estimated 40 acres to conduct transects. The number of transects per forest stand was assigned according to the spatial extent of the area and the importance of the particular forest stand for charcoal production. The exact location of transects with each forest stand was decided taking into consideration accessibility, distance, and local knowledge of the most productive sites. This stratification scheme covers 3% of forested land in the four districts, allowing us to extrapolate findings from randomly selected transect areas and to inform analyses of the entire spatial extent of the districts.

Time Method View help for Time Method

Universe View help for Universe

Urban charcoal consumers living in the city of Tete, Mozambique and rural charcoal producers supplying areas of Tete.

Unit(s) of Observation View help for Unit(s) of Observation

Data Type(s) View help for Data Type(s)

Mode of Data Collection View help for Mode of Data Collection

Description of Variables View help for Description of Variables

Variables in this study include charcoal use, charcoal production, and fuel use. Demographic variables in this study include employment, education level, ethnicity, number of children, and income.

Response Rates View help for Response Rates

For the urban consumer survey, the response rate was 80%. For the rural producer survey, the response rate was 100%.

Original Release Date View help for Original Release Date

2023-03-30

Version History View help for Version History