The impact of improved cookstoves on the demand for fuel wood in Sub-Saharan Africa, and its relation to deforestation

Improved cooking stoves have been introduced over forty years ago to achieve a multiplicity of objectives, including containment of deforestation. This research has attempted to evaluate the experience of improved stoves in Sub-Saharan Africa in relation to the phenomenon of forest depletion, and to propose a procedure for calculating second order effects in the form of increased fuel purchases. The procedure is designed to economize on data requirements, which often prevent analysis of important issues in less developed countries. Three prerequisite conditions for evaluation of improved stoves are examined: first, the relation of biomass energy consumption to forest depletion; second, the ability of improved stoves to realize significant improvements in fuel burning efficiency and wide scale diffusion among households; and limited secondary purchases of fuel wood. Examination of these conditions indicated that improved stoves will be effective in slowing deforestation in Sub-Saharan Africa where fuel wood consumption contributes significantly to forest destruction. Results indicate that income-induced secondary purchases of fuel are modest, but purchases resulting from price adjustments are relatively large.