The following is an Aide Memoire resulting from a workshop in Tamale in January 2000. The workshop was part of a DFID(UK) funded research project carried out by Gamos Ltd. and the University of Legon, Ghana. Extension workers from Government and NGOs in Northern Ghana gathered to discuss a common strategy for fuelwood. Together we came up with a practical framework to enable government and NGO extension workers to incorporate the question of fuelwood into their existing extension activities.
The following summarises the strategy discussed at the workshop; to address barriers to the adoption of sustainable domestic fuelwood practices. We hope you will be able to use these ideas as part of your ongoing work. Please keep in touch and feed back to us your experience of using these ideas. We hope to hold another workshop in six months to share our common experiences.
We are aware that fuel is a subject that is “cross sectoral”. Health workers could have discussions on fuelwood – gathering fuel takes time, and in some cases can be dangerous (snakes). These messages can be a part of any extension work, so please share these notes with your colleagues from other ministries and NGOs. The idea is that these are simple messages that we will all share as a small part of our ongoing work. The more extension workers saying a similar message, the more likely we are to get a response.
Thank you
(Contents available in original)
As extension workers we know that trees have a number of benefits to communities. You can ask the communities to suggest the benefits of trees. Their answers will include some or all of the following:-
|
Trees contribute to soil fertility |
|
Destruction of trees leads to displacement by windstorms |
|
Loss of trees leads to destruction of life and property during storms |
|
Loss of trees promotes drying of water bodies |
|
Trees can provide economic and medicinal benefits |
|
Trees provide supplementary feed for livestock and shade for man |
|
Trees provide constructional materials |
|
Trees provide fuelwood for cooking and heating |
However, although almost everyone is aware of the importance of trees, they do not see that their current practices lead to the loss of trees – people think that they will always be able to collect firewood, and more importantly, they don’t believe that their children will have problems with access to firewood.
The first task is to convince people that these are indeed real problems. You can start with a general discussion on where people collect firewood from, how far they have to walk, how long it takes etc., then move on to how things have changed over time.
Discussion of changes over time. Ask how far the older people had to go to collect fuelwood when they were in their teens. Ask how far the teenagers now have to go. Are they walking further? Is there still the same amount of construction materials around? How many children now don’t go to school as they have to collect firewood. Are there reports of women/children being injured, bitten by snakes on way to collect wood?
This could raise some differences of opinion on the availability of wood. If the arguments are to do with what things were like in times gone by, then there is little you can do. However, there is disagreement over the situation today, there are a number of PRA techniques which could be used to demonstrate to people what the real situation is.
· Mapping (PRA). Encourage communities to make a map of the village and beyond, showing how where they collect wood. Older ones to draw maps of what things looked like in the past.
· Transect walks (PRA). Extend the walks beyond the village and farming land to include the distance that people walk to collect wood. (This is certain to generate very interesting and energetic discussion among the men because it is so far!).
You can use the same combination of discussion and PRA techniques to look at how other issues have changed over time e.g. the affect of storms, and the drying up of water bodies:
Discussion of disasters. How frequently do they occur and are they occurring more frequently? Are windstorms more frequent? Are water bodies drying up?
Field tours. Are there clear examples of negative outcomes near the village, or in neighbouring village? We have said that water bodies dry up – are there old water bodies nearby that people are willing to visit and then discuss? There may be a gully of erosion that can be discussed.
Once people are discussing the fact that it is becoming more difficult to collect firewood, you can start to ask the question why? Example answers raised include:
|
It takes a very long time for a tree to mature. |
|
Cutting trees without planting will make the trees disappear |
|
Population increase |
The discussion around the question “why?” will help reinforce an understanding of the fact that trees are disappearing.
Next, you can move on to ask what this means for the future, and in particular for the children when they grow up. Responses are likely to include the following:
|
There will be increased distances to source of wood |
|
Negative impact on farming activities, as children have to travel distances searching for firewood |
|
Lesser time for house hold duties |
|
Women and children will be prone to hazards e.g. snake bites, wild animals and others |
|
Affect the education of children, especially girls. |
|
Conflicts with other people in an attempt to obtain wood from their farm lands |
|
Unsustainable collection of fuel wood leads to declining soil fertility and migration |
|
Population increase leads to increased demand on firewood |
|
Increased population leads to more demand for roofing / housing, and craft / handiworks, and so greater pressure on firewood |
Convincing people that these problems pose real threats is the key to achieving more sustainable behaviour.
Chiefs are an important social referent, so any strategy should probably include an initial session discussing the problems to the chiefs (and elders?), enlisting their support for the rest of the strategy. It is important the views of the chiefs and extension agents are made known to the people, as this is an important factor in getting people to accept the messages, so it would be good if you can involve chiefs in extension activities.
Messages are best delivered by extension agents in group contexts, and it is important the chiefs give their support to the programme.
Drama and role plays can be effective means of communicating where families can be brought together. Drama can be used to reinforce messages delivered by extension workers.
A number of example slogans were developed during the workshop which can be used either in local or radio campaigns:
· “Wake up ! look around you, things are changing”
· “The well-being of people depends on the environment – with the destruction of trees your privacy is destroyed”.
If people can be convinced that the number of trees is diminishing, and that there will be reduced access to fuelwood in the future, then a natural response should be to try and change things in order to avoid the sorts of problems that you have talked about above. This should give you the opportunity to introduce the sustainable fuelwood practices that were discussed at the workshop, and in particular, the most important aspects that need to be addressed[1]:
o Adopt more sustainable Firewood collection practices
o Promote the planting and managing of woodlots
You can then move on to discuss each of these in more detail.
The main barriers to sustainable firewood collection are that people believe:
1. They will always be able to collect firewood;
2. Future access to firewood will not be a problem for their children;
3. God will not permit the destruction of all the trees suitable for firewood.
You will have addressed the first two of these in persuading people that there really is a problem with trees disappearing. However, you should try to ask people whether God will permit the destruction of all trees suitable for firewood, as this is an issue which strongly affects the way people behave. You are looking for responses which confirm that trees should NOT be destroyed e.g.
|
Some problems we are facing today are man’s own actions or inactions |
|
Crop failures, droughts, floods etc. are punishment from God for destroying trees HE put in our care |
|
Trees are also God’s creation and must be protected |
|
God will not give rains if we destroy trees without replanting |
|
God provided trees to serve as shelter, shade food and medicine for man and other animals |
|
Some trees are in the form of lesser gods and cutting them will lead to disaster |
|
Continuous cutting will end up destroying even the sacred groves |
So how can we cut and gather trees without killing them. Most of Northern Ghana has rules about collecting wood. One should not collect live wood, but it is said that people kill a tree and then return later to collect the dead wood.
Try a story? The daughter of Alhassan has gone a little way away from the main group and killed a tree. She will return later, perhaps a few days and collect the wood. What do you think of her behaviour?
Alhassan’s other daughter also found that there was no dead wood to be collected. But she cut on one or two branches from a tree, so the trees would live, and left the branches to die to collect another day. What do you think of this behaviour?
This may lead into further discussion on how to gather wood without killing trees e.g. pruning techniques. Try to explore which techniques they know and which are acceptable within their local culture – can they gather live wood if it is pruned? It may also reinforce which trees should be gathered for firewood and which trees should not.
Messages can be delivered by extension agents in a group context. It is also important that chiefs agree with the messages, and that people know what the chiefs think, so there are two ways in which chiefs could be approached:
1. Discussion with chiefs to convince them that the messages are valuable
2. Involve chiefs in extension activities so that people can see that the chiefs support the work.
A number of example slogans were developed which can be used either in local or radio campaigns:
· A tree is like a chicken if you nurture it you can continue to take the eggs - prune trees don’t fell them
· If you continue to kill trees, even the sacred groves will be destroyed – prune trees, don’t fell them.
· the death of the last tree is the death of the last man; God wants you to live – prune trees, don’t fell them.
The interesting thing about the topic of woodlot planting is that many people already want to plant woodlots. This shows how existing extension efforts have done a good job, so there is no need to persuade people of the benefits of planting woodlots – that has already been done! What is needed is to help people actually take the next step and plant a woodlot. They need information on practical aspects of woodlot planting and management.
You could start by addressing the main barriers that stop people actually planting woodlots:
· The planted trees will be used for construction and fruit rather than for firewood
· It is not possible to plant trees and crops together.
Ask people for their opinion on these issues – do they agree / disagree? What species are best suited for construction / fuelwood? What land is available for woodlot planting? What species could be grown there? How could trees interfere with other crops? How could they benefit other crops? In the course of the discussion you need to reassure people that the two barriers above are not really a problem e.g.
|
The focal message will be that woodlot s can be used as a source of wood for both construction and fuel |
|
For communities to benefit it is advisable to plant different species. Some species are more suited for construction while others are good for fuelwood. A mix can be planted in a woodlot. Multipurpose species are also available. |
|
Fuelwood species can be planted among fruit trees in a woodlot |
|
It is possible to plant trees and crops together · This can be done by appropriate spacing of trees and crops · Timely pruning of trees will enable both trees and crops to grow together well · Trees and crops will benefit from each other · People will have benefits from 2 sources · We can easily learn how to space and prune trees or better benefits · Some woodlot species can improve the fertility of the farmlands |
Please note that people tend to look at planting as being only in woodlots which are areas dedicated to only planting trees. There is considerable benefit in sharing land between crops and trees. You are now entering a technical area where people may need specific information on specific problems. If your own background or agency is not in trees, you might want to get the assistance of a technical expert who knows about different species.
Having assured people that there are no technical reasons why they should not plant woodlots, you can finish off by giving them general encouragement to get on with it themselves. The central message is:
It is possible to establish woodlots!
You can ask people to share stories of recently planted woodlots that they know of. From their experience (or possibly your own) you can show:
|
Other communities have done it and are experiencing the benefits |
|
Processes involved in establishing woodlots are simple and can be undertaken by communities |
|
Women can set up woodlots for fuelwood |
As people are already aware of the benefits of woodlots, there is little need for the normal type of extension activities such as discussions and presentations. Activities to encourage people to actually plant a woodlot include:
· Demonstrations – show people what species of tree can be grown, how they can be planted amongst crops, how they need to be managed, how much work is needed to look after it etc.
· Field trips – visit woodlots at nearby villages so that people can see that it is possible, and can see the benefits; make sure that villagers chat together so that questions can be answered.
People need to be taught specific techniques (e.g. different species for different uses, how to plant), so there is a need for training:
|
i) nursery establishment: § site selection and preparation § acquisition of materials § potting & seeding arrangement § watering and other nursery practices |
ii) field establishment § site selection and preparation § transplanting § woodlot management |
iii) harvesting § pruning § coppicing |
This level of training requires specialist technical expertise, so it may be best to liase with the Ministry of Agriculture to see how this sort of training can be made available. If enough villages can be mobilised, there should be sufficient demand to justify providing training of trainers. In this way, the knowledge can be made available to people in a large number of villages.
[1] Remember – we discussed Stoves but were not agreed on a single message concerning them. Of course, this is the natural place to mention them depending on your own view.