Charcoal Potential in Southern Africa

The CHAPOSA project investigated charcoal production systems around Lusaka, Dar es Salaam, and Maputo between 1989 and 1998. Findings indicate a significant reduction in closed forest cover in all three areas, with the most severe depletion around Maputo. Charcoal serves as a critical income source for rural poor and a stable, affordable energy source for urban poor, creating a socio-economic dependency that complicates regulation. The report argues that current fiscal and licensing systems are inadequately enforced, treating forests as open-access resources. To mitigate deforestation, the authors recommend a coordinated approach: enforcing licensing to increase prices and fund forest management, while simultaneously providing rural income alternatives (e.g., improved agriculture) and urban energy substitutes (e.g., expanded electricity access).

• Closed forest cover decreased significantly in all three study areas between 1989 and 1998: Lusaka saw a reduction of 25% (from 32% to 24%), Dar es Salaam 22% (from 22% to 17%), and Maputo 74% (from 3% to 1%).
• Modelling suggests that without management interventions, wood resources by 2015 would drop to 80% of current levels in Lusaka, 20% in Dar es Salaam, and 15% in Maputo.
• Charcoal production is a primary income source for rural populations; in Southern Mozambique, it accounts for 70% of cash income, and in Tanzania, 75% of investigated farmers rely on it as an important income source.
• Real charcoal prices have remained remarkably stable for at least two decades across the three regions, which masks the ecological scarcity of the resource.
• State-owned forest resources are effectively treated as open-access due to a failure to enforce licensing and fee systems; revenue collection is estimated at only 1% in Maputo, 10% in Zambia, and 25% in Tanzania.
• Indicators of over-exploitation include the encroachment into ecologically fragile areas such as hills and escarpments, the use of non-preferred tree species, and cutting rates that exceed regrowth.
• The report argues that enforcing the fiscal system must be paired with rural agricultural support and urban electricity expansion to avoid causing severe hardship to the poor.
• Traditional earth mound kilns show low conversion efficiencies, ranging from 11% to 30% with a mean of 19% in Tanzania.

APA

Ellegård, A., Chidumayo, E., Malimbwi, R., Pereira, C., & Voss, A. (n.d.). Charcoal Potential in Southern Africa. Stockholm Environment Institute. https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Climate/chaposa.pdf

Chicago

Ellegård, Anders, Emmanuel Chidumayo, Rogers Malimbwi, Carla Pereira, and Alfred Voss. Charcoal Potential in Southern Africa. Stockholm Environment Institute, n.d. https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Climate/chaposa.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Ellegård |first1=Anders |last2=Chidumayo |first2=Emmanuel |last3=Malimbwi |first3=Rogers |last4=Pereira |first4=Carla |last5=Voss |first5=Alfred |title=Charcoal Potential in Southern Africa |publisher=Stockholm Environment Institute |url=https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Climate/chaposa.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{ellegrdndcharcoal, author = {Ellegård, Anders and Chidumayo, Emmanuel and Malimbwi, Rogers and Pereira, Carla and Voss, Alfred}, title = {{Charcoal Potential in Southern Africa}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, url = {https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Climate/chaposa.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }