Fuelwood project
Background
 Fuelwood
caters for about 70% of domestic energy use in Northeast Brazil.
Consumption is currently gradually declining, but this trend is dependent
on unpredictable factors such as gas prices and household income.
Firewood also represents a major cash crop, complementing the agriculture
and livestock production of smallholders, and there is significant
demand from the industrial sector.
Presently, firewood harvesting remains largely extractivist and
opportunistic, partly due to inadequate knowledge on how to manage
the resource sustainably. The result is over-exploitation of a narrow
range of preferred species such as Caesalpinia pyramidalis
(catingueira) by those who depend on the forest for their
livelihoods. As a consequence the caatinga vegetation has,
over the years, suffered decreased forest cover, loss of biodiversity
and general ecosystem degradation.
Over the last decade conflicting data have emerged on trends in
forest cover in the Northeast of Brazil. Whilst some studies indicate
rapid decline (Radambrasil, 1990), others suggest stability within
the same-arid region (IBGE, 1996; SUDEMA, 2004). However, pressure
for forest clearance for agriculture and cattle ranching, mining
and other human activities remains strong in many areas of the caatinga
biome.
The Project
 The
Sustainable Management of the Caatinga Vegetation for Firewood
Production Project was developed to establish better
management for the native caatinga trees preferred by local
people for fuel. Specifically, this project aims to determine which
of a series of harvesting techniques (cropping, pollarding and crown
thinning) is most appropriate for these priority species, providing
optimum, sustainable returns of wood suitable for fuel and charcoal
production.
The project began in April 2001 with a botanical survey of several
areas of caatinga region, with a view to selecting sites
supporting mature trees with a high proportion of the target species.
Two of the areas selected are located within the IPA research station
in Pernambuco (Serra Talhada and Sertânia) and the third,
conveniently placed to involve the local community and schools,
is situated in Caroalina (approximately 30 km from the Sertânia
station). These areas are located in the Depressão Sertaneja
Meridional transition, close to priority areas for biodiversity
conservation established by the Brazilian Ministry of the Environment.
The four species selected for study were Caesalpinia pyramidalis
(catingueira), Croton sonderianus (marmeleiro),
Mimosa tenuiflora (jurema preta) and Mimosa
ophthalmocentra (jurema de imbira). A total of 5280
trees were surveyed prior to treatment, which took place in both
the wet season (between March and June ) and the dry season (between
October and December) of 2002. Monitoring of the re-growth takes
place annually, in collaboration with local school children. Data
gathered in the field are recorded in a database for statistical
analysis, in order to assess the weight variables and weight per
product class (i.e. poles; firewood and kindling), to allow statistical
comparison between the areas, the impact of the different types
of dry and wet interventions per species, and to observe the success
and mortality rate of the species after successive years of regeneration.
All these activities involve local people by means of environmental
education, training, participative research, extension and field
days. Other activities developed in the area include soil assessment,
comparison of symbiotic micro-organisms in native caatinga, and
botanical inventory.
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