IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecoser/v27y2017ipap127-138.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Ecosystem services trade-offs from high fuelwood use for traditional shea butter processing in semi-arid Ghana

Author

Listed:
  • Jasaw, Godfred Seidu
  • Saito, Osamu
  • Gasparatos, Alexandros
  • Shoyama, Kikuko
  • Boafo, Yaw Agyeman
  • Takeuchi, Kazuhiko

Abstract

Traditional production of shea (Vitellaria paradoxa) butter uses large amounts of fuelwood. This study examines the effects of shea production on the environment by identifying the ecosystem service trade-offs due to the high fuelwood consumption. Fuelwood species inventories for different land use types and on-site plot-based standing biomass measured. We estimate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and changes in carbon stocks for different shea products in rural and urban settings. Results suggest that, processing of shea can cause a significant change of carbon stocks in the four study villages and result in the loss of carbon sequestration ecosystem services. For GHG emissions, rural shea butter processors emit 3.14–3.31kgCO2 eq/kg shea butter, while urban processors emit slightly less (2.29–2.54kg CO2 eq/kg shea butter). We identify trade-offs with several other provisioning (woodland products), regulating (erosion control) and cultural ecosystem services (religious and spiritual values). Such findings can initiate discussions about the hidden environmental and socioeconomic costs of current shea production practices. Potential strategies to enhance the sustainability of shea production include the adoption of improved stoves, sustainable fuelwood harvesting practices, parkland management, alternative fuels, and product pricing premiums to fund the adoption of cleaner shea processing technologies.

Suggested Citation

  • Jasaw, Godfred Seidu & Saito, Osamu & Gasparatos, Alexandros & Shoyama, Kikuko & Boafo, Yaw Agyeman & Takeuchi, Kazuhiko, 2017. "Ecosystem services trade-offs from high fuelwood use for traditional shea butter processing in semi-arid Ghana," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 27(PA), pages 127-138.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecoser:v:27:y:2017:i:pa:p:127-138
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ecoser.2017.09.003
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212041617305855
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.ecoser.2017.09.003?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Chomitz, Kenneth M. & Griffiths, Charles, 1997. "An economic analysis of woodfuel management in the Sahel : the case of Chad," Policy Research Working Paper Series 1788, The World Bank.
    2. Klain, Sarah C. & Chan, Kai M.A., 2012. "Navigating coastal values: Participatory mapping of ecosystem services for spatial planning," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 104-113.
    3. Wunder, Sven & Angelsen, Arild & Belcher, Brian, 2014. "Forests, Livelihoods, and Conservation: Broadening the Empirical Base," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 64(S1), pages 1-11.
    4. Godfred Seidu Jasaw & Osamu Saito & Kazuhiko Takeuchi, 2015. "Shea ( Vitellaria paradoxa ) Butter Production and Resource Use by Urban and Rural Processors in Northern Ghana," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(4), pages 1-23, March.
    5. Mark Appiah & Dominic Blay & Lawrence Damnyag & Francis Dwomoh & Ari Pappinen & Olavi Luukkanen, 2009. "Dependence on forest resources and tropical deforestation in Ghana," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 11(3), pages 471-487, June.
    6. Pouliot, Mariève & Treue, Thorsten, 2013. "Rural People’s Reliance on Forests and the Non-Forest Environment in West Africa: Evidence from Ghana and Burkina Faso," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 180-193.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Albert Novas Somanje & Geetha Mohan & Julia Lopes & Adelina Mensah & Christopher Gordon & Xin Zhou & Mustafa Moinuddin & Osamu Saito & Kazuhiko Takeuchi, 2020. "Challenges and Potential Solutions for Sustainable Urban-Rural Linkages in a Ghanaian Context," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-19, January.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Gautam, Narayan Prasad & Chhetri, Bir Bahadur Khanal & Raut, Nirmal Kumar & Tigabu, Mulualem & Raut, Nirjala & Rashid, Muhammad Haroon U. & Ma, Xiangqing & Wu, Pengfei, 2020. "Do earthquakes change the timber and firewood use pattern of the forest dependent households? Evidence from rural hills in Nepal," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).
    2. Wiebe, Pia Christine & Zhunusova, Eliza & Lippe, Melvin & Ferrer Velasco, Rubén & Günter, Sven, 2022. "What is the contribution of forest-related income to rural livelihood strategies in the Philippines' remaining forested landscapes?," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 135(C).
    3. Miller, Daniel C. & Muñoz-Mora, Juan Carlos & Christiaensen, Luc, 2017. "Prevalence, economic contribution, and determinants of trees on farms across Sub-Saharan Africa," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 47-61.
    4. Kazungu, Moses & Zhunusova, Eliza & Yang, Anastasia Lucy & Kabwe, Gillian & Gumbo, Davison J. & Günter, Sven, 2020. "Forest use strategies and their determinants among rural households in the Miombo woodlands of the Copperbelt Province, Zambia," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).
    5. Walelign, Solomon Zena & Jiao, Xi, 2017. "Dynamics of rural livelihoods and environmental reliance: Empirical evidence from Nepal," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 199-209.
    6. Rasmussen, Laura Vang & Watkins, Cristy & Agrawal, Arun, 2017. "Forest contributions to livelihoods in changing agriculture-forest landscapes," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 1-8.
    7. Tsegaye T. Gatiso, 2019. "Households’ dependence on community forest and their contribution to participatory forest management: evidence from rural Ethiopia," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 21(1), pages 181-197, February.
    8. Bakkegaard, Riyong Kim & Hogarth, Nicholas J. & Bong, Indah Waty & Bosselmann, Aske S. & Wunder, Sven, 2017. "Measuring forest and wild product contributions to household welfare: Testing a scalable household survey instrument in Indonesia," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 20-28.
    9. Shackleton, C.M. & Garekae, H. & Sardeshpande, M. & Sinasson Sanni, G. & Twine, W.C., 2024. "Non-timber forest products as poverty traps: Fact or fiction?," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    10. Skutsch, Margaret & Turnhout, Esther, 2020. "REDD+: If communities are the solution, what is the problem?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 130(C).
    11. Sims, Katharine R.E. & Alix-Garcia, Jennifer M., 2017. "Parks versus PES: Evaluating direct and incentive-based land conservation in Mexico," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 8-28.
    12. Pouliot, Mariève & Treue, Thorsten, 2013. "Rural People’s Reliance on Forests and the Non-Forest Environment in West Africa: Evidence from Ghana and Burkina Faso," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 180-193.
    13. Philip Antwi-Agyei & Andrew J. Dougill & Lindsay C. Stringer, 2017. "Assessing Coherence between Sector Policies and Climate Compatible Development: Opportunities for Triple Wins," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(11), pages 1-16, November.
    14. Pietrzyk-Kaszyńska, Agata & Olszańska, Agnieszka & Rechciński, Marcin & Tusznio, Joanna & Grodzińska-Jurczak, Małgorzata, 2022. "Divergent or convergent? Prioritization and spatial representation of ecosystem services as perceived by conservation professionals and local leaders," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).
    15. Mugido, Worship & Shackleton, Charlie M., 2019. "The contribution of NTFPS to rural livelihoods in different agro-ecological zones of South Africa," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 109(C).
    16. Bennett, Nathan James & Govan, Hugh & Satterfield, Terre, 2015. "Ocean grabbing," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 61-68.
      • Wehner, Nicholas & Bennett, Nathan & Govan, Hugh & Satterfield, Terre, 2015. "Ocean grabbing," MarXiv bm6pf, Center for Open Science.
    17. Felkner, John S. & Lee, Hyun & Shaikh, Sabina & Kolata, Alan & Binford, Michael, 2022. "The interrelated impacts of credit access, market access and forest proximity on livelihood strategies in Cambodia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 155(C).
    18. Loc, Ho Huu & Park, Edward & Thu, Tran Ngoc & Diep, Nguyen Thi Hong & Can, Nguyen Trong, 2021. "An enhanced analytical framework of participatory GIS for ecosystem services assessment applied to a Ramsar wetland site in the Vietnam Mekong Delta," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 48(C).
    19. Shyamsundar, Priya & Ahlroth, Sofia & Kristjanson, Patricia & Onder, Stefanie, 2020. "Supporting pathways to prosperity in forest landscapes – A PRIME framework," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    20. Bierkamp, Sina & Nguyen, Trung Thanh & Grote, Ulrike, 2021. "Environmental income and remittances: Evidence from rural central highlands of Vietnam," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 179(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ecoser:v:27:y:2017:i:pa:p:127-138. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/ecosystem-services .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.