IMPLICATIONS OF FUEL WOOD YIELD, AVAILABILITY AND HARVEST IN TUBAH MOUNTAIN FOREST, CAMEROON

Abstract

The paper focuses on the problems of wood fuel yield, availability and harvest. It investigates the underlying causes of the wood fuel crisis and establishes that the root causes are diverse and require a more comprehensive and objective view of the problem. The study demonstrates that focusing development efforts on wood fuels and the symptoms of their scarcity ignores the much broader and deeper strains in the environmental, social, economic and political fabric of which firewood scarcity is only one of the manifestations. It finally elaborates strategic guidelines for the sustainability of wood fuel resources based on the adoption of ecologically integrated land use systems and the appreciation of the complex, extremely dynamic, and multi-sectoral issues underlying the broader crisis of population pressure, food security, energy acquisition poverty and natural resource management.