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Abstract:
Background: This study evaluates the carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas fluxes to the atmosphere
resulting from charcoal production in Zambia. It combines new biomass and flux data from a study, that was
conducted in a miombo woodland within the Kataba Forest Reserve in the Western Province of Zambia, with data
from other studies.
Results: The measurements at Kataba compared protected area (3 plots) with a highly disturbed plot outside the forest
reserve and showed considerably reduced biomass after logging for charcoal production. The average aboveground
biomass content of the reserve (Plots 2-4) was around 150 t ha-1, while the disturbed plot only contained 24 t ha-1. Soil
carbon was not reduced significantly in the disturbed plot. Two years of eddy covariance measurements resulted in net
ecosystem exchange values of -17 ± 31 g C m-2 y-1, in the first and 90 ± 16 g C m-2 in the second year. Thus, on the
basis of these two years of measurement, there is no evidence that the miombo woodland at Kataba represents a
present-day carbon sink. At the country level, it is likely that deforestation for charcoal production currently leads to a
per capita emission rate of 2 - 3 t CO2 y-1. This is due to poor forest regeneration, although the resilience of miombo
woodlands is high. Better post-harvest management could change this situation.
Conclusions: We argue that protection of miombo woodlands has to account for the energy demands of the
population. The production at national scale that we estimated converts into 10,000 - 15,000 GWh y-1 of energy in
the charcoal. The term “Charcoal Trap” we introduce, describes the fact that this energy supply has to be
substituted when woodlands are protected. One possible solution, a shift in energy supply from charcoal to
electricity, would reduce the pressure of forests but requires high investments into grid and power generation.
Since Zambia currently cannot generate this money by itself, the country will remain locked in the charcoal trap
such as many other of its African neighbours. The question arises whether and how money and technology
transfer to increase regenerative electrical power generation should become part of a post-Kyoto process.
Furthermore, better inventory data are urgently required to improve knowledge about the current state of the
woodland usage and recovery. Net greenhouse gas emissions could be reduced substantially by improving the
post-harvest management, charcoal production technology and/or providing alternative energy supply.
