phd proposal: potential of urban forests to provide fuelwood for residents in african cities florian...

PhD proposal:

Potential of urban forests to provide fuelwood for residents in african cities

Florian Renner (Dipl. Ing. forestry sciences)

Supervisor: Stephan Pauleit

Technische Universität München

Content

1. CLUVA context2. Ecosystem services of urban forests3. Research background4. Main objectives5. Research questions6. Specific objectives7. Study area(s)8. Task flow9. Status quo10. References


2

CLUVA context

WP 2: Vulnerability and Risk assessment4 Tasks:2.1 Vulnerability of urban structures and lifelines2.2 Vulnerability and adaptation potential associated with urban ecosystems2.3 Assessing social vulnerability2.4 Multi-risk models


3

Task 2.2: overview

The specific objectives of this Task are: to analyse, quantify and map important ecosystem services of the urban

green structure that increase the resilience of African cities to climate change;

to assess the impacts of climate change on urban green structure & its ecosystem services; and

to evaluate the prospects for urban green structure as a measure for adapting African cities to climate change.


4

Ecosystem services of urban forests

Ecosystem services delivered by urban forests (adapted from TEEB Manual for Cities 2011)1. Provisoning services: food, raw materials (i.e. wood, biofuels, NTFPs), water,

medicinal resources2. Regulating services: local climate and air quality regulation, carbon

sequestration and storage, moderation of extreme events, waste-water treatment, erosion prevention

3. Habitat or supporting services: habitats for species, maintenance of geneti diversity

4. Cultural services: recreation and mental and physical health….


5

Research background

Importance of wood as source of energy:– about 90% of harvested wood in Africa is used as fuelwood (world

about 47%; FRA 2010)– more than 90% of household‘s energy demand supplied by biomass

(GTZ 2009)– collection of fuelwood is often time- and cost intense – commercial harvesting of wood often not sustainable– purchase of energy efficient cooking appliances mostly too expensive

for the poor population (Edwards and Langpap 2005) urban utilization of fuelwood rarely examined in Africa, yet

(Gebreegziabher 2011) increasing demand for wood through population growth (4-5% p.a.; UN-

HABITAT 2005) impacts of climate change on forests in urban areas?


6

Main Objectives

Contribute to availability and accessability of base data and literature for ecological questions in urban areas of Africa

To highlight the value and importance of ecosystem services in urban areas

To enhance the resilience of urban green infrastructure in Africa


7

Research questions

What are urban forests in Africa? How important is urban forestry and its provisioning service

„wood“ for the residents? What risks are resulting for urban forestry from urban growth? What is the impact of climate change on the urban forest stand

growth? How and where could the resilience of urban forestry be

enhanced?


8

Specific objectives

To estimate the urban forest cover in different case study cities (for now Dar es Salaam)

To utilize UMTs and land cover analysis to characterize urban forests

To develop a method to derive urban wood supply from forest cover (lc-analysis, FAO approach)

To calculate the urban fuelwood demand and estimate the contribution of urban forests to urban fuelwood supply

To calculate urban forest growth based on previous volume estimations

To identify the impacts of climate change and urbanization on forest growth as risk and vulnerability factors

To identify potential forest regrowth areas


9

Study area(s)

For now Dar es Salaam Further case study cities appreciated (depends on data

availability, i.e. aerial images, UMT maps and social data)


Maps of Tanzania, Ethiopia (wikipedia.org, 04/2012)

Dar es Salaam !

Addis Abeba?

Ouaga?Douala?

St. Louis?

10

tasks Outputs

1.• Characterization of urban forestry in Africa (based on UMTs

and surface cover analysis)

2.• Quantification of provisioning services of urban forestry for

timber growing stock (FAO approach)

3a.

• Analysis of fuelwood demand (social-empiric investigation)

3b.

• Growing anthropoghenic fuelwood requirements (due to increase in population)

4.• Impact of climate change on stand growth (literature review)

Classified and characterized urban forestry

types

Urban timber potential

Factors of vulnerability to urban forestry

Main goal: Resilient urban forestry

Task flow Technische Universität München

11

Status quo

methodology to estimate standing timber volume elaborated Contribution to UMT mapping of Dar es Salaam First analyses of surface cover in different UMTs in Dar

Next steps:1. To finalyse surface/tree cover assessment in Dar2. To apply timber volume estimation method3. To validate results in Dar


12

References

Edwards, J.H.Y., and C. Langpap (2005): Startup Costs and the Decision to Switch from Firewood to Gas Fuel. Land Economics 81(4):

FAO (2010): Global Forest Resources Assessment 2010 – Main Report Gebreegziabher, Z., et al. (2011): Urban energy transition and technology

adoption: The case of Tigrai, northern Ethiopia, Energy Econ. (2011), doi:10.1016/j.eneco.2011.07.017

GTZ (2009): Renewable Energies in East Africa Regional Report on Potentials and Marktes – 5 Country Analyses; Energy-policy Framework Papers, Section »Energy and Transport«

TEEB – The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (2011): TEEB Manual for Cities: Ecosystem Services in Urban Management. www.teebweb.org

UN-HABITAT (2005): Urbanization Challenges in Sub-Saharan Africa; United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT): Nairobi, Kenya


13

phd proposal: potential of urban forests to provide fuelwood for residents in african cities florian...

Documents