Wood fuel consumption and ecological footprint of African Cities

Abstract

Africa has high rate of urbanisation which are due to several factors such as natural phenomenon and self-induced activities of concentration of infrastructure in cities. There is a significant relationship between the rates of urbanisation in Africa and destruction of ecosystem which make it relevant in sustainability discourse. The Ecological Footprint (EF) is a system to show relationship between urban environment and natural eco-system though in a parasitic manner. It has been proved that Africa has the lowest EF in the world because of her lifestyle and consumption of resources. Little research has been conducted on EF at city level in Africa as there is dearth of data for it. The major source of energy in both urban and rural Africa is though wood fuel and this has devastating effect on the forest and ecosystem. The forest has been depleted and a lot of CO2 emitted to atmosphere. This is the major problem of deforestation in Africa than lumbering process. Many households in urban area depend solely on wood fuel throughout the year. Consideration on other sources of energy for domestic use need to be looked into so as to reduce the level of degradation of the environment.