The role of forest status in households’ fuel choice in Uganda
2023 (English)In: Energy Policy, ISSN 0301-4215, E-ISSN 1873-6777, Vol. 173, article id 113390Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
In this study, we investigate how households' choice of energy source is influenced by the status of the local forest resource. We assume that households choose between clean fuels (e.g., kerosene, LPG, solar, and electricity), dirty biobased fuels (e.g., firewood, animal dung, crop residues, and charcoal), and mixed fuels. We integrate socioeconomic data with high-resolution satellite data on forest conditions from the Uganda National Panel Survey. The findings from a random-effects multinomial logit model indicate that households in vegetated areas are 6–7% less likely to rely solely on dirty biobased fuels, and 6–8% more likely to use mixed fuels, compared to those in non-vegetated areas. A larger forest stock is more strongly associated with lower use of firewood than charcoal. A possible explanation for the findings is the presence of policies for forest conservation and enhanced forest property rights, which improve forest conditions and limit opportunities to collect firewood. Given households' dependence on forest-based fuels, such policies could need to be modified to secure households’ access to these fuels.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Elsevier, 2023. Vol. 173, article id 113390
Keywords [en]
Forest status, Fuel choice, Policy, Random-effects multinomial logit, Satellite data, Uganda, Agricultural wastes, Charcoal, Conservation, Random processes, Biobased fuels, Forest conditions, Fuel choices, Mixed fuel, Multinomial Logit, Random effects, Random-effect multinomial logit, Forestry
National Category
Economics Forest Science
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:sh:diva-50436DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2022.113390ISI: 000910848200010OAI: oai:DiVA.org:sh-50436DiVA, id: diva2:1721915
2022-12-232022-12-232024-01-08Bibliographically approved