William F. Hyde

Household fuelwood demand and supply in Nepal's tarai and mid-hills: Choice between cash outlays and labor opportunity

Abstract Subsistence households are a leading source of deforestation and their consumption of fuelwood, in particular, is important in many developing countries. Yet the empirical economic examinations of fuelwood consumption are sparse, particularly for rural areas where the deforestation occurs, and we would argue that forest policy is often designed without a good understanding of the potential responses of subsistence households to the new policy. This paper addresses these issues with household evidence from the two major populated regions of Nepal. Market prices, labor opportunities, the availability of substitutes, and measure of access to the basic resource are the most reliable predictive variables for fuelwood consumption and production. There are, however, regional differences and important distinctions between the elasticities of fuelwood collecting or purchasing households with respect to these predictive variables. The difference between collecting and purchasing households is notable. It recommends forestry policies that target the labor opportunity and the physical resource in regions where collecting households dominate, and policies that affect the fuelwood market itself in regions where purchasing households are important. A second interesting finding is that fuelwood is relatively scarcer (prices are higher) in the mid-hills, and both collecting and purchasing households in this region are beginning to respond to deforestation by using their own land for fuelwood production.

Joint production and consumption in traditional households: Fuelwood and crop residues in two districts in Nepal

Forest conversion by agricultural households is the leading cause of deforestation. Yet we know little about agricultural household use of forest and tree products. This article measures household production of and demand for fuelwood and fuel substitutes in two districts in Nepal. Women play a larger role in collection in the district dependant on production from common forestlands. Men and agricultural capital are more important inputs in the district dependant on production from private lands. The article also measures demand elasticities for fuelwood, combustible agricultural residues, and improved stoves (a technological substitute), each by household income group. All price and income demand elasticities are less than one. The substitution elasticities between residues and fuelwood are less than one. Residues are more important substitutes for low income households and improved stoves are more important substitutes for high income households.

The Urban Household Energy Transition : Social and Environmental Impacts in the Developing World

Urban Household Energy, Poverty, and the Environment The Urban Energy Transition Household Fuel Choice and Consumption Energy and Equity: the Social Impact of Energy Policies The Urban Energy Transition and the Environment The Energy Transition in Hyderabad, India: a Case Study Toward More Effective Urban Energy Policies

Nepali fuelwood production and consumption: Regional and household distinctions, substitution and successful intervention

This article uses household data from Nepals two major populated regions (and 27 of 59 districts within those regions) to examine fuelwood consumption and production. In contrast with a purely market assessment, household analysis includes production which is consumed in the producing household. The household regressions yield coefficients and elasticities that are very different from and more reliable than a comparable assessment of market demand and supply. Household results generally support the hypotheses that expenditures on fuelwood are a small share of total household activity and that fuelwood is not sufficiently scarce to alter household behaviour. Fuelwood is sufficiently scarce, however, to alter behaviour for those households in the hill region that do not participate in market exchange. These households may be the best targets for public market interventions designed to alter fuelwood supply and deforestation.

Disease, Microdams and Natural Resources in Tigray, Ethiopia: Impacts on Productivity and Labour Supplies

We examine the effects of water microdams and ensuing waterborne diseases on household decisions in Tigray, Ethiopia, where the government implemented a water resource development programme two decades ago. We find microdams increase productivity of both fuelwood collection and crop production, but the costs of these dams to households can be significant. In villages close to dams, disease prevalence is higher and all household labour categories spend more time sick, and more time is spent by male and female adults caring for sick family members. These can cost the household anywhere in the region of 150–250 Birr per season, depending on the type of labour diversion and the productivity of labour. Males are most significant here. Removing their time from production results in 40–60 per cent higher productivity and income losses compared to diversion of female labour. Sick households also spend significantly more money on health care, especially when male and female adults are sick.

Periurban deforestation in developing countries

Abstract In this research, we develop a conceptual, bioeconomic model to explain deforestation around developing-country cities, and apply the model in an empirical analysis to a cross-section of 33 cities in Africa, Asia, and Central and Latin America. We find that forests decline around cities in response to urban income growth, with the deforestation pattern reflecting a combination of such factors as transportation development, topography, precipitation, and island location. We also find that the establishment of protective state property regimes appears to have little impact on stemming deforestation in the vicinity of developing-country cities.

Applications of environmental accounting and the new household economics: new technical economic issues with a common theme in forestry

Abstract This paper reviews environmental accounting and the new household economics (NHE) as important new developments for forest economics, and particularly for assessing non-market and non-timber forest products. The concept of adjusting the national accounts for forest depletion has received a lot of attention, but forest-based household services, like outdoor recreation in developed countries or fuelwood in developing countries, may have greater impacts on the national accounts. NHE is an econometric approach for valuing forest-related household services like these. In general, the NHE allows complete estimates based on revealed preferences for the production, supply and demand of goods and services that some households produce and consume internally. Complete estimates are critical in economies where household services dominate market production and consumption, and where market observations alone would be partial and would misguide policy decisions. Therefore, household services are the important area of application for both environmental accounting and NHE. Applications of each hold special promise for our understanding of the forestry activities of subsistence households in developing countries.