Wood fuel consumption in Maputo, Mozambique.

Abstract The population of Mozambique's capital Maputo relies to a large extent on wood fuel to meet its energy needs. The paper, based on a sample of 168 non-domestic and 240 domestic consumers, shows that domestic households constitute the most important wood fuel users in the city. Domestic consumption is now between 0.9 and 1.0 m 3 of woody biomass per capita, an increase of more than 10% compared to data from the 1980s. This increase occurs despite a growing importance of alternatives such as paraffin, gas and electricity, and can be explained by the substitution of firewood by charcoal. The paper also shows a strong correlation between fuel consumption and socio-economic factors such as household size, area of residence and income. A striking feature is that similar to poorer families higher income households tend to use charcoal in combination with non-woody fuels, contradicting FAO's (1993) “fuel ladder”. The paper argues finally that the importance of social economic factors inflicts a dynamism on fuel consumption patterns, which makes it necessary to monitor them on a regular instead of an ad hoc basis, as is the case now.