The delemma of rural women between environmental conservation and domestic fuel use : the case of Makgokgoane Village, North-West Province

Abstract

Most of the Third World's poorest people live in rural areas where fuelwood is the main source of domestic energy. The study on Makgokgoane village is about people, their environmental impact on natural resources, and their daily efforts to look for a cheaper source of domestic energy, i.e. fuelwood, largely used for cooking and sometimes for heating and lighting. This is not a thrust on energy production but rather a study on unsustainable harvesting and consumption of energy sources in which headloading women fuelwood collectors play a major role as the social group responsible for the provision of domestic energy. The Makgokgoane village study of female firewood collectors reflected the high levels of inequality which characterized the South African political economy where 72 percent of the respondents were unemployed with 84 percent of them found to be having four dependents or more in their households. Interviews with the respondent fuel wood collectors indicated that all of them had the opinion that fuel wood collection resulted in deforestation and degradation of the environment. The major findings of the study led to the conclusions and recommendations that the government of the North-West should increase awareness of the people, especially rural women in Makgokgoane village on the significance of using the existing woodfuel energy source in a sustainable manner through environmental conservation and educational campaigns. Finally, that more research need to be done to identify cheaper indigenous sources of energy as alternatives to firewood in Makgokgoane village.