Burning biodiversity: Fuelwood harvesting causes forest degradation in human-dominated tropical landscapes

Abstract

This study provides an approximation of the potential impact of fuelwood harvesting in one of the most threatened tropical biodiversity conservation hotspots, the northern portion of the Brazilian Atlantic Forest. We test the relationship between fuelwood consumption and per capita income for 270 households distributed over 7 rural settlements. In general 76% of the households use fuelwood regularly and consume on average 686 kg/person/year of tree biomass, poorer people, however, consume 961 kg/person/year. Harvesting is concentrated to a few early successional species. Yet, annual rural population demand from 210 municipalities may reach 303,793 tons, equivalent to 1.2 to 2.1 thousand hectares of tropical forest. Fuelwood harvesting cannot be ignored as a major and chronic source of forest degradation in highly fragmented and densely populated landscapes and conciliating biodiversity conservation with poverty amelioration is an urgent task.