Project Background
This research analyses the markets for construction wood in four African towns.
In the context of the research, "wood" is defined to include sawn timber (seasoned and unseasoned), trees, poles, bamboos, leaves, grasses and other forest products. Included in the understanding of "construction wood" is wood actually built into buildings (walls, roofs, doors, etc.), wood used in the production of buildings (scaffolding, formwork, etc.) and wood associated with buildings (furniture, fences, etc.).
Although the focus is on construction wood (its use, extraction and supply), this has to be set in the context of the competing demands for wood generally (particularly for fuelwood, for export markets and for industrial production) as well as the alternative materials available for construction.
The research will focus on four cities in two countries of sub-Saharan Africa, Kenya and Tanzania. The cities are chosen for their high dependence on wood for shelter, evidence of current or potential problems of wood resource depletion, demands for competing uses for construction wood and indications of non-sustainable extraction. Two cities are in the coastal zone (Dar es Salaam in Tanzania and Mombassa in Kenya). Two further cities will be chosen in each country (probably Dodoma or Mwanza in Tanzania, Machakos of Kisumu in Kenya). If resources permit, some limited research will also be undertaken in one town (Kisii or Kakamega in Kenya) where a high percentage of supply is already coming from private farms and in one town close to a forest plantation (Arusha in Tanzania).
To develop a general model of the construction wood market(s) and apply it to:
* compare the construction wood markets in the various study locations (i.e.: under different ecological and socio-economic conditions and policy frameworks).
* assess the implications of different policies upon the demand for construction wood and upon the wood supply networks
* assess the transportability of good practice and the usefulness of generic policies for the sustainable management of forest resources.
This project covers support for South Bank University's UK costs in this project, funded under the EU Fourth Framework Programme to 500,000 ECU.
Project Objectives
Promote the sustainable management of natural resources (wood) and facilitate the provision of affordable building materials to fast growing urban areas.
Intended Outputs
- To examine current patterns of demand for construction wood in fast growing African cities.
- To establish the structure and dynamics of construction wood markets, the wood supply networks and the agents involved.
- To assess the sustainability of current patterns of exploitation of wood resources for urban markets.
- To examine the way in which government environmental policies interact with fiscal policies and affect the agents in construction wood networks (including examination of inter-group equity).
- To assess the ecological and economic circumstances (including price and distance from the market) under which tree growing for construction wood becomes profitable, and policies that encourage its growth.
- To identify circumstances and policies which both promote the sustainable management of natural resources (wood) and facilitate the provision of affordable building materials to fast growing urban areas.
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