Assessment of Commercial Charcoal Production Effect on Savannah Woodland of Nasarawa State, Nigeria

Abstract

Charcoal is used as fuel in cooking for household, large food consumption and also in some industries especially those involved in casting bronze and other metals. It can be produced year round which involves woodland exploitation that contributes to deforestation with various negative consequences like loss of valuable resources and environment, drives climate change through the release of greenhouse gases, it also reduces the bio-productivity of ecosystems by disrupting the habitats of thousands of species, transforms forest lands into barren deserts and exposes bare surfaces which are susceptible to soil erosion, thus making the entire ecosystem unstable. These are among the major threats to forest reserves and contributes highly to deforestation with 0.038 hectare of savanna woodland depleted for production of a single 15 kg capacity bag of charcoal in the study area and this had led to forest degradation which 96.2% of the respondents attested. The study was to determine the impacts of charcoal production to the forest reserves and also the public perceptions of the environmental effect of unplanned cutting of tree for Charcoal Production and it recommended awareness, prudent forest management and getting involve the private sectors, combined with proactive actions and policies.