7.1 Introduction
7.2 Regional situation in 1980
7.3 Prospects for the year 2000
7.4 Typology of deficit situations and feasibility of forestry solutions
Latin America as a whole has a fairly positive energy balance as regards its present needs, whether for oil, gas and hydro - electric energy or for fuelwood and charcoal. But within individual sub-regions, countries or zones there is a marked difference between sectors that have abundant resources and others which lack them, in particular as regards petroleum.
The sub-regions of Central America and the Caribbean are unquestionably in the worst situation; the Andean countries with the exception of Venezuela, i.e. Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia and Chile, have relatively few petroleum resources but abundant hydro-electrical and biomass resources; Brazil has considerable resources in the form of biomass, charcoal, uranium and hydro - electricity; and the southern countries (Paraguay, Uruguay and Argentina) also have limited petroleum resources but an adequate hydro-electric potential and, in the case of Argentina, a good uranium potential.
The population of Latin America is predominantly rural and wood constitutes the main source of domestic fuel supplies. It is estimated that about 60 percent of Latin America's population lives in the country or has consumption habits characteristic of rural areas. This means that in 1980 approximately 223 million people were using wood as a source of energy.
The present per capita consumption of fuelwood for the whole region is about 0.6 m³ per year, and the average in the rural areas is 1 m³³ per year, representing a total annual consumption of 223 million m³, not counting the 50 million m³ of wood waste produced each year by industry and logging.
Fuelwood and charcoal consumption should remain stable during the forthcoming years, despite the constant rise in prices which worsens the economic situation of the rural populations, whose purchasing power is very low.
Fuelwood and charcoal from forest plantations will cost two to four times as much as that from natural forests, but it does hot seem that any effort is being made to manage and protect forests and degraded zones, although this would make it possible to improve supplies or even resolve the problem completely.
The present rate of deforestation is alarming; if it continues the forest area will be reduced by 16 percent by the year 2000.
The share of forests in energy resources varies as follows between the various zones of the regions:
|
Central America |
93% |
|
Brazil |
81% |
|
Caribbean |
74% |
|
South Cone |
15% |
|
Andean countries (except Venezuela) |
37% |
Appropriate techniques must therefore be developed for using this resource and, above all, ending the destruction of the forests.
Except in Brazil and Argentina, no major project exists for the use of non-conventional fuels; only a small amount of research is being done on this subject and applications are still at the experimental stage.
With the exception of Venezuela and Mexico, Latin America is poor in petroleum as compared with Asia and Africa, but it has considerable energy potential in the form of hydro-electric energy and wood. The overall balance is very modest as compared with the other regions, and decisions will have to be taken very quickly in order to improve the situation by making the best possible use of the existing natural resources, of which wood is the most important.
Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean countries, the Andean countries, Brazil and the South Cone constitute the region studied ¹.
¹ In this study the word "country is systematically used for reasons of convenience, although one of the units (French Guiana) is not a country in the strict sense of the term, but a department.
7.2.1 Populations concerned and their energy needs
7.2.2 Forest and plant resources available as fuel
7.2.3 Identification and nature of the different categories of situation
7.2.4 Regional summary
The total population of the region in 1980 was about 360 million, of whom 250 million lived in towns with more than 10 000 inhabitants and 125 million in rural areas. However, for the purposes of this study people living in towns with less than 100 000 inhabitants will be considered as belonging to the rural areas as regards energy consumption, which brings the total "rural" population up to 223 million.
This estimate is realistic because, although a large part of the rural population is grouped together in semi-rural centres, the inhabitants do not meet the minimum conditions that would make it possible to consider them as town dwellers, and they keep the habits and customs inherited from the rural environment.
According to statistics, the amount of fuelwood and wood for charcoal produced in the Latin American region in 1980 was 285.5 million m³, representing 79 percent of total removals. Compared with the total energy consumption of the region, fuelwood accounted for 18 percent of supplies; but this figure conceals a great disparity in national situations, fuelwood playing a much more important part in certain Latin American and Caribbean countries.
Domestic energy needs in rural areas are from 10 to 23 GJ per person per year, depending on local climatic, social and economic conditions.
TABLE 32: ENERGY NEEDS IN RURAL AREAS IN LATIN AMERICA
|
Ecological situation |
Energy needs per person (GJ/person/year) |
Percent of different sources of energy consumed |
Fuelwood and charcoal needs (m³/person/year) |
|
|
Fuelwood and Charcoal |
Others |
|||
|
Hot region: Amazon and Orinoco basin, tropical and sub-tropical coastal area |
10 to 14 |
50 to 60 |
40 to 50 |
0.55 to 0.90 |
|
Temperate region: Upper basins of the Amazon, Orinoco and Plate Rivers; Andes below 1 800 m |
12 to 17 |
55 to 65 |
35 to 45 |
0.70 to 1.20 |
|
Cold region: Upper part of the Andes, southern Chile and Argentina |
18 to 23 |
50 to 65 |
35 to 50 |
0.95 to 1.60 |
(a) Natural formations
(i) Tropical America
Tropical America is the most wooded of the three big tropical regions, both in absolute terms and as a percentage of its total area. The 23 countries of this region contain 678.6 million hectares of closed forests, which cover 40 percent of the land area. There are also open forests of broadleaved species, covering 264 million hectares, in the 7 tropical Latin American countries. It is difficult to estimate the area covered by shrub formations owing to the lack of quantitative studies on these formations, and to make a distinction between open forest and shrub formations. The latter were estimated to cover 14.6 million hectares in 1980.
The different types of forest have been analysed and grouped according to the following classification:
- Closed broadleaved forests
- Closed coniferous forests
- Open forest formations
- Savanna with trees
- Matorral (scrub)
- Closed forest modified by agriculture and fallows.
1. Heterogeneous tropical and sub-tropical closed forests
Forests of this type, with relatively heterogeneous and very dense stands; predominate in the region, They represent 54 percent of the total area of forest and shrub formations and 61 percent of the forest formations, or a total of 654 million hectares, lying mainly in the Amazon and Orinoco basins, Brazil and the Andean countries. The average standing volume is 100 to 300 m³ per hectare. Over the 506.5 million hectares considered as productive, the fuelwood yield is 3 m³ per hectare per year.
2. Closed coniferous forests
These forests consist essentially of conifers, with a few scattered hardwood species. The species are more homogeneous, Forests of this type are to be found mainly in Central America, the Caribbean countries and Mexico. They cover a total area of 25 million hectares, or 2 percent of the forest and shrub formations and 2.5 percent of the forest area. The productive area is 15 million hectares and the average yield of fuelwood 2.5 m³ per hectare per year.
3. Open forest formations
These are open forests studded with clearings and are found in dry regions such as eastern Paraguay and Bolivia, southern Brazil, certain parts of Venezuela and Colombia, and central Mexico. They cover a total of 225 million hectares, representing 16 percent of the total area of forest and shrub formations and 20 percent of the forest area. The average standing volume is about 80 m³ per hectare, with a yield of fuelwood and wood for charcoal of 1.5 m³ per hectare per year.
4. Savanna with trees
These are grassland prairies with scattered trees, typical of the zones known as Chaco Paraguayo, Chaco Boliviano and Cerrado Brasilero. The total area covered by formations of this type is 112 million hectares. The standing volume is 30 m3 per hectare and the average fuelwood yield is estimated at 0.8 m³ per hectare per year.
5. Shrub formations or matorral
These are formations of low woody vegetation (less than 5 metres high), found essentially in southern Brazil, northern Mexico (chaparral) and southern Bolivia. The total area covered by these formations is estimated at 146 million hectares, with an average yield of 0.3 m³ of fuelwood per hectare per year.
6.. Closed forest fallows
It is estimated that the zones of closed forest affected by agriculture and fallows covered a total area of about 109 million hectares in 1980 (more than 99 million hectares of closed hardwood forest fallows and 10 million hectares of closed softwood forest fallows). The proportion varies from one country to another according to the density of the population practising shifting agriculture: it is low in Guyana and Bolivia, high in Mexico and in the other Central American countries, and fairly high in the Andean countries and Brazil. The average yield of fuelwood is estimated at 1 m³ per hectare per year.
(ii) Temperate America (Argentina, Uruguay and Chile)
The countries in this region contain 14.6 million hectares of closed broadleaved forests in the Andes, 0.3 million hectares of coniferous forests, 10 million hectares of open formations (60 percent in northern Argentina) and 135 million hectares of matorral (central and northern Argentina and Chile). The fuelwood yield is below that of the tropical forests (about 60 percent).
(b) Forest plantations
During recent years, owing to the increasing demand for wood and its scarcity on the countries' domestic markets, big forest plantation programmes have been launched, partly for the production of fuelwood, despite its high cost.
These programmes deserve particular attention and should be studied in more detail, particularly as regards production costs, because it will be very difficult to sell fuelwood or charcoal from these plantations to rural people who are in the habit of collecting wood from the forest near them.
Transport plays a very important, even decisive role in the marketing of fuelwood and charcoal. To be sold at a reasonable price, wood should not be transported over more than 10 km, and hence plantations for this purpose should be communal forests located near the consumer populations: this is the only way of producing wood at reasonable prices.
Eucalyptus is the species most widely used in these plantations, particularly throughout the Andean zone, where it adapts very well; but the soil is rarely rich enough and yields are therefore low (about 5 m³ per hectare per year at high altitudes). On soils of better quality, yields of 15 to 20 m³ per hectare per year are obtained.
Hardly any thinning or pruning is carried out and there is therefore no intermediate yield. These operations are sometimes done in an empirical way, but the growth of the stand often suffers as a consequence.
The countries with the highest annual rate of plantation are Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Venezuela and Mexico. In Brazil, the plantations are of eucalyptus, pine and Gmelina. The other countries use mainly pine, followed by eucalyptus (particularly Argentina).
The area covered by plantations is estimated at 4.6 million hectares (2 million hectares planted over the past five years) in the tropical countries and 1.3 million ha in the temperate countries of the South Cone.
(i) Industrial plantationsOf the 3.55 million ha of industrial plantations (of which 2.57 million are in the tropical countries), Brazil has 1.9 million ha, Argentina 450 000 ha, Chile 500 000 ha, Cuba 157 000 ha and Venezuela 120 000 ha. Forty percent of the present industrial plantations are less than five years old. In most cases the quick-growing species (Gmelina, eucalyptus, alder, poplar, Juglandaceae) or conifers (cypress, pine, Araucaria) are used. Fuelwood output is very low, because most of these plantations are intended for the paper-making industry.
(ii) Non-industrial plantations
Eighty percent of the 2.4 million ha of non-industrial plantations are concentrated in Brazil. Seventy-three percent (1.5 million ha) are eucalyptus plantations for the production of charcoal for the iron and steel industry of Minas Gerais, and 19 percent are plantations of fruit trees and palmettos.
The plantations devoted exclusively to soil protection cover 100 000 ha, in Mexico (87 000 ha), the Dominican Republic and Haiti. The other plantations (520 000 ha) are intended for the production of wood for charcoal-making. The yield of these plantations is between 5 and 15 m³ per ha per year.
(c) Other forest plantations (hedges and windbreaks)
In addition to plantations for industrial purposes (lumber) and for the production of wood for fuel and charcoal - making, hedges are planted to act as windbreaks (cercos) in cultivated areas. They are frequent in the Andean region, where small holdings predominate, slopes are steep and winds strong. These plantations are of great economic importance and constitute an additional source of income for the farmer, who uses or sells the wood, mainly for heating.
It is estimated that these hedges represent 20 percent of the plantations and that 60 percent of them are used to produce fuelwood for domestic consumption or for sale.
Bow plantations represent the equivalent of 850 000 ha and are situated mainly in fairly heavily populated zones.
The average yield of these plantations - 10 to 20 m³ per ha per year - is higher than that of the others because the trees benefit from irrigation and manuring.
(d) Agricultural residues
Agricultural residues also constitute a source of fuel supplies, particularly in Zones where wood is lacking because the natural conditions are not propitious to the growth of natural woody vegetation or because the vegetation in the region has been very degraded by over-cutting or over-grazing.
The Andean region in Peru and Bolivia illustrates this situation well: there is a large consumption of agricultural residues and above all of dung as fuel. The same situation occurs in the desert and semi-desert zones. It is very difficult to obtain statistics on agricultural residues for the regions and categories of countries adopted for the purposes of this study. The data given here are therefore mere estimates or orders of magnitude. It is estimated (to calculate the equivalent in wood of the agricultural residues) that 30 percent of the residues are accessible and utilizable as fuel and have a calorific power equal to 30 percent that of wood.
The zone-by-zone analysis showed that the situations could be classified into 6 categories relatively homogeneous as regards area and productivity of the natural woody vegetation on the one hand, and population density and level of requirements on the other.
These categories are as follows:
- Category 1: Heavily-populated, high mountain zones with big fuelwood needs, the forest resources being exiguous or inaccessible.- Category 2: Zones with very scanty forest resources owing either to the arid climate or to destruction by fairly big rural populations.
- Category 3: Zones with limited forest resources and low yields owing to a fairly unfavourable climate and a relatively big population.
- Category 4: Zones with low-yielding, not very accessible forest resources, and a population rather small at present but growing rapidly.
- Category 5: Zones with small populations and abundant, although not always accessible, forest resources.
- Category 6: Zones of tropical closed forest with immense forest resources and very small populations.
(a) Category 1
This consists of the Peruvian-Bolivian altiplano (south-eastern Peru and western Bolivia), which covers an area of about 125 000 km inhabited by 3.2 million people, of whom 2.2 million are rural dwellers; the area really inhabitable (Andean plateau) is, however, much smaller.
The woody vegetation is limited to high-altitude shrub formations estimated to cower 18.5 million ha, with a very low yield (0.1 m³/ha/yr), whence a very small apparent annual ' supply: 1.85 million m³ . This supply is in fact reduced owing to difficulties of access, because there are many shrub formations in the mountains and on slopes that are not accessible and not inhabited. The accessible supply may therefore be estimated at only 20%, or about 400 000 m³/year, so that the supply per inhabitant is 0.18 m³/person/year. A few plantations have been established, providing a total supply of less than 50 000 m³/yr or less than 0.02 m³/inhab./yr; and there are a few trees' planted by farmers, providing less than 0.01 m³/inhab./yr. Agricultural residues represent about 0.1 m³/inhab./yr (assuming that two-thirds must be dug back into the land). Altogether, the supply of wood and plant material utilizable as fuel is 0.31 m³/inhab./yr, while needs are estimated at between 0.95 and 1.6. The deficit is therefore in the order of 1 m³/inhab./yr. The populations make maximum use of the agricultural residues which provide them with an additional 0.2 m³/inhab./yr, and of animal dung. Despite this, needs are not usually covered, and an overall situation of acute scarcity exists, resulting in high mortality among children and the old.
(b) Category 2
This comprises the desert and sub-desert zones of the Pacific coast in northern Chile and Peru, and three countries in Central America and the Caribbean: El Salvador, Haiti and Jamaica. A total of 23.4 million people are concerned, of whom 16.2 million live in rural areas and in towns with less than 100 000 inhabitants.
(i) In the desert and sub-desert zones, inhabited by 11.7 million people, of whom 6.8 are rural dwellers, the natural vegetation is limited to shrub formations, particularly abundant in the Chilean part, and which cover a total of 22.5 million ha. The limited yield (<0.1 m³/ha/yr) provides an apparent annual supply of 2.25 million m³ , only 20 percent of which is estimated, to be accessible, whence only 450 000 m³/year or only 0.07 m³/inhab./yr. The plant at ions established are mainly for industrial purposes, so that the total supply of fuelwood is very small (about 110 000 m³/year, or less than 0.02 m³/ person/year. Finally, isolated trees on arable land and agricultural residues provide very little: less than 0.1 m³/person/year altogether. All told, the annual supply of wood and plant material utilizable as energy is only 0.19 m³/ person/year.
The people therefore over-cut the existing woody formations, which otherwise would be able to develop more and in certain places form real dry closed forests. These forests have now almost completely disappeared, owing not only to over-cutting but also to grazing by domestic animals.
In many places the populations are therefore in a situation of acute scarcity and cannot cover their needs, which are between 0.6 and 0.9 m³/person/year. The situation of Lima is particularly worrying, because the almost total destruction of tree vegetation in the vicinity of the town makes it extremely difficult to supply enough fuelwood and charcoal, the price of which reaches levels incompatible with the incomes of the poorest sectors of the population.
(ii) In the three small countries of the Central American-Caribbean zone, where the rural population is 9.4 million, the deficit situation is of the same order of magnitude, so that spots of acute scarcity already exist. The natural forest formations are very degraded and only a few tens of thousands of hectares of broadleaved and coniferous closed forest remain, the rest consisting of fallow (213.000 ha) and shrub formations (600 000 ha). The annual supply per inhabitant is 0.02 m³ in Haiti, 0.04 m³ in El Salvador and 0,26 m³ in Jamaica, assuming that all the areas are accessible. Taking into account the very limited supplies of wood from plantations (68 000 m³/year) and from village woodlots and agricultural residues, the annual supply per inhabitant is only about 0.1 to 0.3 m³. This is insufficient to cover needs, which are about 0.55 to 0.9 m³/person/year. The people continue to destroy and over-cut the vegetation, with serious consequences as regards soil erosion.
(c) Category 3
This category comprises: the relatively populated zones of Central American and Caribbean countries where the forest resources are limited because they lie in relatively dry sub-tropical zones (central Mexico, Guatemala, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Trinidad and Tobago); the populated zones of central Colombia, Peru and Chile where forest resources are relatively abundant but not very accessible; and finally eastern Brazil, heavily populated and with limited forest resources.
Altogether this concerns 201.5 million people, of whom 30 percent live in towns with more than 10 000 inhabitants. The rural population is therefore 142.7 million (75 million in Brazil alone).
The total supply of fuelwood calculated on the basis of estimates of area is 162.3 million m³/year, of which 89 million may be considered accessible. (This accessibility of the total apparent supplies varies from 40 to 90 percent according to the zone and the population distribution). The mean per capita supply is therefore 0.60 m³/person/year (the figure varying from 0,43 to 0.78 according to the country).
With the exception of south-western Brazil, very little wood is available from plantations: for the whole of this category it is an average of about 0.04 m³/inhab/yr. If farm woodlots (the supply from which is estimated at 0.05 m³/inhab./yr) and agricultural residues (0.10 m³/inhab./yr) are added, an average of 0.80 m³/inhab./yr is obtained. There is therefore an overall deficit situation which in certain regions in north-eastern Brazil may even be so bad as to lead to a reduction in the consumption of fuelwood and hence to a situation of acute scarcity.
(d) Category 4
This comprises the mountainous zones in the interior of Venezuela and Ecuador, central Brazil, eastern Paraguay, Uruguay and north-eastern Argentina. These zones are inhabited by 50 million people, of whom 29.8 million (60 percent) live in rural areas and towns with less than 100 000 inhabitants. These populations are growing rapidly at present. Fuelwood needs vary from 0.5 to 1.20 m³/inhab./yr, depending on the zone and the climate. A large part of the area in these zones (about 300 million ha) is occupied by wooded and shrub formations of low density and with a low fuelwood yield. Productive closed forests occupy no more than about 10 million hectares (together with 9 million ha of fallow). The total apparent annual supply of fuelwood is estimated at 124 million m³ , but only 50 million m³ can be considered accessible, owing to the vastness of the areas. The accessible supply per inhabitant is therefore on average 1,71 m³/year, varying according to the zone between 1.55 and 1.85 m³/year.
Fuelwood needs are therefore covered by the natural formations alone. Plantations provide a considerable additional amount in some countries (Argentina, Uruguay): the total supply is estimated at 3 million m³ , or 0. 1 m³/inhab./yr. To this should be added 0,2 m³/inhab./yr from farm woodlots and 0.15 m³/inhab./yr from agricultural residues. The total fuelwood supply is thus 2.16 m³/inhab./yr. This estimate excludes the production of the Brazilian plantations of fuelwood for the iron and steel industries and other clearly industrial uses.
At present, therefore, there is in general no problem. However, in certain regions, such as parts of the Andean plateau in Ecuador, there are deficit situations analogous to those of the similar zones in Colombia and Peru classed in the preceding category.
(e) Category 5
This comprises, in addition to northern Mexico, all the Central American countries (with the exception of southern Guatemala and of El Salvador, included in the previous categories) and the Pacific coast of Colombia and Ecuador. Also included is the interior of Argentina and the extreme south of the continent (southern Argentina and southern Chile). In all these countries the forest resources are abundant as compared with the population: 29 million inhabitants, of whom 25.2 million live in rural areas. In some zones the forest resources are even very abundant as compared with the population (northern Guatemala, eastern Nicaragua, Belize, eastern Honduras, eastern Panama), but real accessibility is limited. Overall, the accessible supply per inhabitant is everywhere more than 2.5 m³/yr. This amply covers the needs, which range from 0.5 to 1.2 m³/inhab./yr according to the zone and the climate. There is therefore practically no fuelwood supply problem.
(f) Category 6
This consists of all the zones situated in the Amazonian region in the broad sense of the term, where the forest resources are immense and the population very small (13.8 million in rural areas). This region, which contains the world's 'largest tropical forest reserves, does not, of course, have any problem as regards fuelwood supplies, which are 100 times greater than requirements.
TABLE 33 - SUPPLY OF WOOD FUEL RESOURCES IN 1980
|
Categories of situations |
Population |
Total annual accessible supplies |
Total |
Annual supply per inhabitant |
|||||
|
Total |
Rural |
Natural formations |
Plantations |
Farm wood-lots |
Woody Residues |
|
Total |
Rural |
|
|
(...millions...) |
(...million m³...) |
(m³/person/year) |
|||||||
|
Category 1: Andean meseta |
3.2 |
2.2 |
0.4 |
0.05 |
0.02 |
0.22 |
0.69 |
0.1 to 0.3 |
0.2 to 0.4 |
|
Category 2: Arid zones in the western part of South America and densely-populated zones |
23.4 |
16.2 |
1.13 |
0.178 |
0.810 |
0.810 |
2.928 |
0.1 to 0.15 |
0.1 to 0.3 |
|
Category 3: Populated semi-arid and Andean zones |
201.5 |
142.7 |
89 |
5.7 |
7.1 |
14.0 |
115.8 |
0.5 to 0.6 |
0.7 to 0.9 |
|
Category 4: Less populated sub - tropical and temperate zones |
50.0 |
29.8 |
51 |
3 |
6 |
4.45 |
64.55 |
1.3 |
2.1 |
|
Category 5: Sub-tropical and temperate zones with new and growing human settlements |
29 |
25.2 |
70 |
|
|
|
>70 |
|
> 2.5 |
|
Category 6: Amazonian zones with abundant forest resources |
|
13.8 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
TABLE 34 - OVERALL FUELWOOD BALANCE 1980
|
Categories of situation |
Level of needs |
Level of supplies |
Average balance |
Order of magnitude |
|
|
deficit |
surplus |
||||
|
m³/person/year |
million m³/year |
||||
|
Category 1: Andean meseta |
0.9 to 1.6 |
0.2 to 0.4 |
- 1 |
- 2 |
|
|
Category 2: Arid zones in the eastern part of South America and densely-populated zones |
0.6 to 0.9 |
0.1 to 0.3 |
- 0.55 |
- 9 |
|
|
Category 3: Populated semi-arid and Andean zones |
0.7 to 1.2 |
0.6 to 1 |
- 0.25 |
- 36 |
|
|
Category 4: Less populated sub-tropical and temperate zones |
0.5 to 1.2 |
1.9 to 2.3 |
+ 1.2 |
|
+ 36 |
|
Category 5: Sub-tropical and temperate zones with new and growing human settlements |
0.5 to 1.2 |
> 2.5 |
|
|
|
|
Category 6: Amazonian zones with abundant forest resources |
0.4 to 1.1 |
higher |
|
|
|
The following tables show, for each category of situation, the total supplies of wood fuel and the overall balance per rural inhabitant. They underline the contrasts within the region as regards fuelwood.
In the high mountain zones, where needs are high, the climate harsh and forest resources rare, and in the zones where forest resources are very limited owing either to the arid climate or to pressure from a large rural population, a real situation of acute scarcity is revealed: fuelwood supplies, counting all resources, cannot cover more than a quarter of the needs per rural inhabitant if the limits compatible with sustained production are to be respected. There is therefore marked over-use of the accessible resources and maximum use of agricultural residues as fuel. Despite this the rural populations are generally faced with an imbalance between supplies and needs, an acute scarcity which is becoming worse and which has serious implications both of a social and economic nature and for the environment and natural resources. The situation is particularly serious in three countries of Central America (Haiti, Jamaica and El Salvador), and on the high Andean Plateau, in Bolivia and Peru.
In the relatively dry sub-tropical zones where the forest resources are limited either by nature or by accessibility and where the population is fairly dense, the elements of a deficit situation are manifest. The level of accessible supplies of fuelwood compatible with the maintenance of sustained production shows a deficit as compared with needs per inhabitant. This deficit, still limited for these zones as a whole, assumes alarming proportions in certain cases, such as north - western Brazil.
In contrast, the other categories of situation, particularly categories 5 and 6 with large forest resources and small populations, obviously do not have any immediate supply problem: the natural formations alone suffice to cover present levels of needs. The extent of the resources of the Amazon region is particularly striking.
7.3.1. Growth in population and needs
7.3.2 Changes in fuelwood and charcoal resources
7.3.3 Balance foreseeable in the year 2000
Leaving out of account the increasing shortage of fossil energy (petroleum) and taking as a basis normal population growth rates, an average rate of deforestation or degradation of the natural forests, the plantation programme from now to the year 2000 and energy needs in 1980, the situation in the year 2000 can be assessed as set out below.
The following table gives an idea of the increase in population, based on average growth rates in each country in the region, both for the total population and for the urban and rural populations separately.
TABLE 35 POPULATION IN THE YEAR 2000
|
Category |
Total population |
Rural population |
Urban population |
|
1 |
5.5 |
3.5 |
2 |
|
2 |
41 |
28 |
13 |
|
3 |
377 |
260 |
117 |
|
4 |
90 |
50 |
40 |
|
5 |
52 |
45 |
7 |
|
6 |
25 |
29 |
6 |
(a) Natural formations
The wood resources from productive closed forests will fall by more than 13 percent owing to deforestation, which will proceed at an average rate of 3 500 000 hectares per year between 1980 and 2000.
In order to analyse deforestation in tropical America, it is necessary to group the countries according to their situation in this respect. On the one hand there are countries or zones where deforestation is insignificant owing to the absence of agricultural pressure on forest land: this is the case in Guyana and most of Brazilian Amazonia (Category 6). At the other extreme, there are countries where deforestation is insignificant for the simple reason that there are no forests (El Salvador, Haiti and Jamaica in Category 2). In almost all the other countries, there is a considerable amount of deforestation in both absolute and relative terms. The process of deforestation is at different stages according to the country. It has increased regularly in countries where the wooded zones previously out of reach are becoming more and more accessible as a result of infrastructure and settlement programmes, as in Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia. Deforestation is slower if the wooded zones are situated on hilly terrain or in zones difficult of access, or if there are conservation programmes: Costa Rica, Honduras, Brazil and Venezuela.
The most important factor in deforestation is spontaneous shifting cultivation, which is responsible for almost all the deforestation in Mexico, Central America, the Andean countries and Paraguay. In each country the area of forest fallow increases with the spread of shifting cultivation (1.5 million hectares per year). The other forms of deforestation are essentially due to shifting cultivation without rotation in the mountainous areas and to intensive livestock-raising.
The Brazilian formations known as "cerrado", and other types of open formations, which represent three-quarters of the open forests in tropical America, are reduced mainly by extensive forms of livestock-raising and by felling to supply wood for the iron and steel industry. These losses are evaluated at a little over 1 million hectares per year. In the other countries the open formations are not being destroyed very quickly, but they are threatened by many factors of degradation: fires, over - cutting for the production of fuel-wood and charcoal, and over-grazing. The zones most affected are the Chaco and the Brazilian "cerrado", and the dry forests of the Peruvian coastal area.
TABLE 36 - NATURAL FORMATIONS
|
Category |
Pall in the supply of wood (as percentage) |
Total supply in the year 2000 (in millions of m³ per year) |
Average accessible percentage |
Accessible volume (in millions of m³ per year) |
Supply per inhabitant (in m³ per year) |
|
1 |
40 |
1 |
20 |
0.2 |
0.06 |
|
2 |
40 |
2 |
30 |
0.6 |
0.02 |
|
.3 |
40 |
97 |
50 |
48 |
0.18 |
|
4 |
50 |
62 |
60 |
37 |
0.74 |
|
5 |
30 |
124 |
50 |
62 |
1.35 |
|
6 |
12 |
800 |
20 |
160 |
8.4 |
(b) Forest plantations
In accordance with the trends or the plantation programmes in each country, it is estimated that in the region as a whole an average of 600 000 hectares per year will be planted, of which 125 000 hectares will be for the production of fuelwood and charcoal.
TABLE 37 - FOREST PLANTATIONS
|
Category |
Total supply in the year 2000 (in thousands of m³- per year) |
Supply for rural populations (m3 per person per year) |
|
1 |
270 |
0.08 |
|
2 |
174 |
0.01 |
|
3 |
14 400 |
0.06 |
|
4 |
5 930 |
0.12 |
|
5 |
30 |
e |
|
6 |
NE |
NE |
(c) Hedges and windbreaks
Since it is not possible to forecast whether row plantations will increase or decrease, because they are linked to the bringing into cultivation of new arable land, it is assumed that the supplies of wood from this source will remain at the same level as in 1980. .
(d) Agricultural residues
It is assumed that in the year 2000 this source too will be at the same level as in 1980.
TABLE 38: SUMMARY OF WOOD FUEL SUPPLIES IN THE YEAR 2000 IN RURAL AREAS (m³/PERSON/YEAR)
|
Category |
Natural formations |
Plantations |
Row plantations |
Agricultural residues |
Total supplies |
|
1 |
0.06 |
0.08 |
0.01 |
0.1 |
0.25 |
|
2 |
0.02 |
0.01 |
0.01 |
0.05 |
0.09 |
|
3 |
0.18 |
0.06 |
0.05 |
0.1 |
0.39 |
|
4 |
0.74 |
0.12 |
0.05 |
0.20 |
1.06 |
|
5 |
1.35 |
0.001 |
0.05 |
0.1 |
1.50 |
|
6 |
8.5 |
NE |
NE |
NE |
> 9 |
TABLE 39: SUMMARY OF WOOD FUEL SUPPLIES AND NEEDS IN THE YEAR 2000. IN RURAL AREAS (m³/PERSON/YEAR)
|
Category |
Needs |
Supplies |
Balance |
|
1 |
0.9 to 1.5 |
0.15 to 0.35 |
- 1 |
|
2 |
0.5 to 0.8 |
0.05 to 0.15 |
- 0.55 |
|
3 |
0.6 to 1.1 |
0.3 to 0.5 |
- 0.45 |
|
4 |
0.4 to 1.1 |
0.9 to 1.2 |
+ 0.30 |
|
5 |
0.4 to 1.1 |
1.3 to 1.7 |
+ 0.75 |
|
6 |
0.4 to 1.1 |
>9 |
>8 |
This balance indicates the following developments in the different categories of situations identified in 1980:
- Category 1: Andean Plateau. Apparently little change in the situation of acute scarcity noted previously. Total supplies per inhabitant will fall. by about 20 percent, covering only one-fifth of needs as compared with one-quarter in 1980. The fall in supplies is connected with the degradation of the natural formations, for which new plantations compensate only to a small extent. Given the growth in population, the overall deficit will be double the 1980 figure and may reach 4 million m³.- Category 2: Arid zones in western South America and heavily - populated zones in Central America, The acute scarcity existing in 1980 will worsen. Owing essentially to an accelerated decline in the natural formations, total supplies per inhabitant will drop by practically a half and in the year 2000 will represent barely more than one-tenth of the populations' needs. The total fuelwood deficit will be more than 15 million m³, and it can already be stated that this fuel will no longer play more than a marginal role in El Salvador, Haiti and Jamaica, which contain two-thirds of the populations in this category.
- Category 3: Populated zones in the relatively dry sub-tropical area and the remaining Andean zones. The bulk of the supplies in 1980 came from natural formations. By the year 2000 they will be considerably decreased owing to the growth in population -this category contains about two-thirds of the region's rural population. The combined effect of deforestation and population growth will bring the available supply per inhabitant of fuelwood from natural formations down to one-third of the 1980 level. The increase in supplies from the plantations planned is completely inadequate to compensate for the overall trend. The total supply per inhabitant will fall by a half, but it will still remain significant, covering about half the needs. It must be emphasized, however, that the overall increase in the deficit will be accompanied by extension and worsening of the zones of acute scarcity incipient in 1980.
- Category 4: Less populated zones of the sub-tropical and temperate areas. No overall deficit in this category appears in the year 2000, although there will be a considerable fall. in supplies from natural formations. In view of the growth in population the positive balance between supplies and needs per inhabitant will be reduced to a quarter of that in 1980. It is the accelerated degradation of this balance per inhabitant and the. existence of pockets of actual deficit in this category that causes it to be classified as a potential deficit situation, despite a positive overall balance. The problem arises particularly in regions where population density is greatest and in those where large agricultural development programmes will not maintain a sufficient fuelwood resource. It applies also to zones where the provision of industrial fuelwood or charcoal gives rise to intensive deforestation over large areas.
- Category 5: Sub-tropical and temperate zones with recent and growing settlement zones. Despite a marked drop in accessible fuelwood supplies, the level of supplies in the year 2000 will remain well in excess of the populations' needs. The available surplus illustrates the energy potential of the forest resources over and above satisfying the fuelwood needs of the populations which use this fuel.
- Category 6: Zones with abundant forest resources in the Amazon basin. The situation of abundance remains unchanged in this category, which comprises the world's largest forest reserves and which remains sparsely populated.
7.4.1 Situations of acute scarcity affecting three main groups of populations
7.4.2 Deficit situation
7.4.3 Potential deficit situation
The three main types of critical situations identified in Latin America are as follows:
(i) The Bolivian and Peruvian Altiplano, where 2.2 million people depend on traditional fuels: fuelwood and plant and animal residues. In difficult ecological and topographical conditions, accessible fuelwood resources are very limited, while the harshness of the climate results in needs being high. Despite over-use of all the available resources, there is a very acute scarsity of fuelwood: only 25 percent of the needs are covered, and the deficit amounts to about 1 m³/person/year. The conditions of growth, the limited amount of land available and the fragility of an environment that is already often very degraded, offer limited prospects for forestry solutions. In many cases, at high altitudes only intensified rural plantation programmes will be able to ensure that wood fuel continues to make an effective contribution to meeting the minimum energy needs of the rural populations: forestry solutions will have only a limited impact on solving the problem of rural energy, but they are essential because of their simultaneous effect in maintaining the natural resources and a productive environment.(ii) The arid and sub-arid, zones of the Pacific coast of South America, containing some 7 million people dependent on traditional fuels. The accessible supply of natural woody vegetation is less than 0.1 m³/person/year and the other woody resources add very little to this. Despite a relatively low level of needs - 0.6 to 0.9 m³/person/year - they will only be partially covered, and here too there is a very marked scarcity, accompanied by over-use of the available resources. Because of the aridity, only limited, localized forestry solutions in the form of plantations can be envisaged.
(iii) The three most densely populated countries of Central America - Haiti, Jamaica and El Salvador - where more than 9 million people have a rural-type energy consumption, with needs of 0.55 to 0.9 m³/person/year. The very limited fuelwood supplies cover only a quarter of these needs, and the people are forced to over-cut all the available woody resources, with serious consequences for the vegetation and the soils. Relatively favourable ecological conditions should favour the establishment of plantations enabling at least part of the resource to be reconstituted; but this would hardly be able to make up for the rapid growth in population leading to more acute scarcity per inhabitant.
Deficit situation affecting almost two-thirds of the populations with a rural type of energy consumption in the region. These populations are usually able to satisfy their minimum energy needs, but at the price of over - using the resources and hence degrading their potential. Needs are in the order of 0.7 to 1.2 m³/person/year. In the zones of Central America and the Caribbean, the limited forest resources are decreasing rapidly owing to over-cutting; in the zones concerned in the Andean countries, the forest resources exist but are difficult of access; and in eastern Brazil the deficit situation is the result of high population and limited resources. If present trends continue, the deficit per inhabitant will reach 0.4 m³ in the year 2000, while the global figure will triple, reaching 117 million m³. However diverse the various situations, the extent of the foreseeable deficit and the speed with which the situations will deteriorate make it essential that full attention be paid to them. For the category as a whole, three main types of measures must be taken as quickly as possible: management of the accessible forest resources and integration of the energy and production functions; accelerated establishment of forest plantations; and, when the supply of unused productive land is limited, development of farm woodlots and family and community plantations. The ecological conditions are generally favourable and the forestry solution to the rapidly growing deficit should be put into practice with the utmost priority and without delay: actions should be oriented above all towards maintaining and/or restoring decentralized provisioning for rural communities, guaranteeing them autonomous energy supplies and providing them with access to the resource while making them responsible for its maintenance.
Potential deficit situation affecting about 30 million people in the mountainous zones of Venezuela and Ecuador and the south-east of South America. The accessible natural formations were sufficient to cover the needs of 0.5 to 1.2 m³/ person/year in 1980. But the growth in population in zones occupied largely by vast stretches of low-yielding broken formations will result in deforestation on such a scale that fuelwood supplies will eventually be threatened. It is this degradation that makes it necessary to underline the critical nature of these situations, which might result in an overall deficit soon after the year 2000. This could easily be prevented if programmes for the settlement of new lands maintained and incorporated sufficient forest zones to ensure the supply of fuelwood, and complementary plantation programmes were undertaken at the same time, with priority given to action at the level of individual peasants and communities.
These measures must be taken immediately if they are to be fully effective, without waiting until the trend now observable takes a turn that would make the situation more and more difficult to control. A forestry solution is completely feasible in this type of situation, coverage of the populations' fuelwood requirements in the year 2000 can be ensured without major difficulty provided the necessary action is undertaken without delay.
