Firewood Utilisation and Its Implication on Trees around Mopipi Village in Boteti Sub-District of Botswana

Abstract

A household survey was done to assess the number of people using firewood in order to determine the amount of available firewood, its rate of utilisation and the distance travelled per selected household. There are a total of 383 households in Mopipi village with an average household size of eight (8) people. A sample size of seventy-nine (79) households were interviewed for the study on their use of fuelwood. Four transects of 14 km radiating from the Mopipi village were used to measure the biomass of both live and dead trees. Five sampling points at different distances along the transect were located. At each sampling point, three 50m x 10m quadrats were demarcated. Firewood biomass was determined by measuring the basal area at ankle height and adjusted by using regression curves formulae. Biomass of live trees was dominated by Colophospermum mopane woodlands, but its standing dead wood was only available at further distances. Most households gathered firewood by head-loads within a range of 4-6 km from the village. Trade-offs were clearly involved when people collected less preferred species at near distances. Consumption rate per household was estimated at 10 kg per day per household. Reasonable biomass of live trees occurred near the village, concurring with household claims that they do not chop live trees.