Insatiable demands: Income, energy and environmental policy in Madagascar
The island nation of Madagascar is suffering the collision of three distinct trends: economic stagnation, a rapidly expanding population and a severely threatened natural resource base. Demands for growth, new energy reserves and environmental conservation, especially of forest resources, are creating a policy dilemma for both government officials and donors. This study seeks to bring new evidence to bear on this policy dilemma. Primary data on urban household income, family size and consumption of various energy types are used to test two main hypothesis (1) that charcoal, which constitutes the fuel of choice for a vast majority of the sample, is a normal rather than an inferior good, and (2) that demand for wood-fuels constitutes a genuine threat to the viability of the forest resource. The data indicate that income elasticities of demand for charcoal are positive over a broad range of per capita income levels, revealing that charcoal is, indeed a normal good for a large portion of the population represented by the sample. A model of forest degradation is built which establishes a clear link between wood-fuel demand and forest degradation. Together, these findings make clear that under current income patterns, and for the forseeable future, charcoal is a normal good and its consumption by urban residents constitutes a serious threat to the natural forest resource. The study concludes with a policy analysis which identifies existing market failures due to government policies and recommends changes based on tested policy prescriptions in other parts of the developing world.
- Research Organization:
- Tufts Univ., Medford, MA (United States)
- OSTI ID:
- 7023679
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
290200* -- Energy Planning & Policy-- Economics & Sociology
ADSORBENTS
AFRICA
CHARCOAL
DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
ENERGY POLICY
ENERGY SOURCES
ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY
FUELS
GOVERNMENT POLICIES
ISLANDS
MADAGASCAR
SUPPLY AND DEMAND
WOOD FUELS