In partial fulfillment of the requirements for CHM031: Chemistry for Engineers

In the world we live in, buildings and infrastructures are common in our sight. These structures provide our basic needs like shelters, it also connects us to the place we wanted to go. So, these structures were made to be strong, durable and should last longer. Concrete is one of the materials that make our shelters safe for us. Through the years, started at around 7000 BC, concrete was already available and being used by early civilizations.

Concrete was used in making a famous structure from ancient times like the Pyramid of Giza, Eddystone lighthouse, The Parthenon, etc.

Concrete as defined by the Concrete technology, it is a mixed material used in construction which is made of cement, fine aggregates or sand, and coarse aggregates or the gravel which hardens in a period when mixed with water. The earliest discovery of concrete was dated about 7000 BC.

It was reported that the concrete was made from a lime concrete that was made from burnt limestone to produce quicklime. These materials harden when mixed with stone and water which acts as their concrete. Ancient Roman discovered stronger concrete than previously discovered. This was made out of volcanic ash containing silica and alumina which, when mixed with lime, creates a stronger form of cement which they named pozzolanic cement. Its name was derived from the place Pozzuoli where they discovered the said ashes. With the fall of the Roman empire, the Concrete lost in civilization.

The rebirth of concrete started when John Smeaton discovered soft limestones containing soft clay materials which result in hydraulic cement. This cement contains pozzolan which came from Italy. The hydraulic cement was used to construct John Smeaton’s famous Eddystone Lighthouse. In the early 1800s, natural cement was manufactured in Rosendale, New York. This result to a cement called Hydraulic cement which was patented by Joseph Aspdin which named because it was believed that it resembles Portland stone – high-quality limestone that can be found an isle in Portland.

At the year 1845, Portland cement was manufactured by I.C Johnsons of White and sons, Swanscombe, England. Generally, Portland cement was based on the Hydraulic cement that was patented by Aspdin. But this cement improved the properties made in the previous hydraulic cement. By the year 1860s, Portland Cement was imported to the United States and by the 1870’s it was properly produced in the United States. Portland cement became known for durability and it only hardens for several hours. But this Portland cement is weak in tension, and it is very susceptible to damage because of its porosity which is caused by frost and salts. These disadvantages were developed and made up new types of cement until it reaches the cement we know today.

Concrete is widely used in the world, every building, roads, canals, ports, and bridges were mainly made of concrete. According to an article by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, concrete is used twice more than the number of all other building materials used in the construction like woods, steels, plastics, and aluminum. Thus, it makes it the second most consumed substance in the world which is next to water (Concrete Helper,2012). Concrete is being manufactured at around 25 billion tons each year throughout the world or it is equivalent to over 3.8 tons each person a year (World Business Council for Sustainable Development,2009).

As defined previously, concrete is a mixture of cement, aggregates, and water. So, in producing concrete, we use Portland cement to act as a paste to our mixture so that the aggregates named as sand and rocks harden. Cement is not naturally available like other resources like water. To produce cement, we need limestones, shells, chalk, clay, slate, blast furnace slag, silica sand, and iron ore. There 2 ways to manufacture cement, the most common Dry method, and the wet method. Raw materials like limestones, clay, and other materials were being quarried down. After it was obtained, the rocks are crushed into a different stage. The first stage crushes the rocks, not over 6 inches big, then the second one crushes the rocks into 3 inches or smaller sizes. The rocks that were crushed is mixed with other ingredients like iron ore, or fly ash and ground, and put inside a cement kiln which will be heated up at the temperature of 2,700 degrees Fahrenheit. This method uses Dry method if Wet method was used the rocks were being crushed with water before being put inside the kiln. As it travels around the kiln, some elements get rid of in the form of gases. After the process inside the kiln, a Clinker will be produced. Clinker, a grey ball which is about the size of a marble, is the result of the materials mixed inside the kiln. This clinker will be cooled and will be ground after to become powder. Then it is ready to be distributed to construction as we named it cement. (Portland Cement Association,2018)

Traditionally, Portland cement was used in making concrete. In making Portland cement, chemical reactions are present. As we are all knowledgeable Portland cement mainly came from limestones which are mostly composed of calcium carbonate ( CaCO3 ) which starts by producing Calcium Oxide (CaO) or the quick lime. In the process of making cement, there is about 5% of carbon dioxide (CO2)) released in the atmosphere every year. Thus it will be led to the Chemical equation. CaCO3?CaO+CO2.

Since Silicon oxides and Aluminum will be mixed with quick lime (CaO), in the mixing of cement to make the concrete these materials will be hydrated or mixed with water in order to make concrete harden.

In determining the chemical reaction occurred in producing concrete, we add variable x to the chemical equation which represents different values or materials added to the mixed concrete which doesn’t affect its basic chemical reaction. So we will have three representation of chemical reactions when hydration occurs to the production of concrete. And these are:

3 CaO? Al2O3+6H2O?Ca3Al2(OH)122CaO?SiO2+xH2O ? Ca2SiO4?xH2O3CaO+SiO2+x+1H2O?Ca2SiO4?xH2O+Ca(OH)2The reaction involved in producing cement is at a very slow rate. That’s why engineers included curing time of the concrete in their time schedule of the project they are into because these concretes do not fully harden at short span of time. It needs some time for it to be fully cured and gets hard as we wanted.

One of the most common and problem regarding concrete is having cracks (Ozinga,2016). When concrete starts to crack, its structure begins to degrade. By this problem, The microbiologist Hendrik Jonkers developed a self-healing concrete or the Bioconcrete. Bio concrete and the traditional concrete has the same method of manufacturing, the only difference is the healing agent that is added to the mixture of Bioconcrete. This Healing agent is a harmless bacterium which became active when water will react on it. One of the challenges in the study was finding the exact bacteria that could live in places like concrete and can live in a very long time. Concrete is a rock-like material which is very dry which some bacteria cannot live with that environment. Jonkers used the bacteria known as Bacillus Genus which can grow in alkaline conditions like the concrete, it also produces pores that allows them to live for years with the absence of food and oxygen. The bacteria remain dormant for years in the concrete without food or oxygen until water will enter a crack and activate them. Jonkers and his team added the nutrient Calcium lactate in the mixture that could act like a food to the bacteria for it to produce limestones that could heal the cracks in the concrete.

During the mixing, for the bacteria to survive, Jonker and his team set the bacteria and calcium lactate in a biodegradable capsule which will be added to the wet mixture of concrete. When cracks will appear on the concrete and the water will enter those cracks, it can activate the bacteria. The bacteria will begin to grow, multiply and consume the lactates provided for them. With this, they produce limestones or calcite to seal up the cracks.

The basic concept of the Bioconcrete is the concrete that can self-heal. This alone has the major advancement to the traditional concrete because it doesn’t require a human to repair it which lessens the effort needed for repairs. Aside from that, with its ability to self-heal, it reduces the amount spent on repairing the structure. According to a research conducted by (Jones, Kisslinger & Yatsenko,2019), only 1% of the total cost of concrete is spent in the actual concreting process and the 99% is spent in repairs and maintenance of it. In addition, it also increases the durability of the concrete because according to (Winktor and Jonkers,2011) as cited in the study of (Ponraj et al.,2015), when a crack appears on the surface of the structure, the bacteria repairs it directly thus it prevents the steel reinforcement and the concrete itself to corrode and making the structure collapse.

Furthermore, according to (Ponraj et al.,2015) Bio concrete has an 18% improvement in compressive strength. Which shows that the Bioconcrete increases the strength of the concrete. It was shown in the study of (Ponraj et al., 2015) that at 28 days of observance, a 25% increase was evident in the compressive strength of the concrete when bacteria were added. Chemical reaction

The current and future uses of bio-concrete

As a part of the testing and studying of bio-concrete, it was tested and used in different environments with different temperatures. One of the current use of bio-concrete is being as the protective layer of a parking garage in Apeldoorn, Netherlands. The bio concrete was used there as a top layer of the garage floors with a dimension of 12,000 square meters to prevent water from leaking through the garage floors and destroying its structural aspects.

Furthermore, another use of Bioconcrete was making the irrigation canals in Ecuador. One of the problems they face is that the concrete in their irrigation was not reinforced with steels so the concrete began to crack in only a short period and allowing the water to escape onto the walls. As their, solution, they used Bioconcrete that was reinforced with abaca fibers to increase its tensile strength.

Lastly, For the future of Bioconcrete, it can replace the traditional concrete we use today. This means that it will be used in buildings, bridges, roads, tunnels, ports, etc. because all of the structures are very hard to maintain and it is very costly to repair.

Concrete Helper. (2011, October 28). Concrete facts. Retrieved from

The Future of Things. (2012, November 2). BioConcrete – Self Healing Concrete. Retrieved from

Ponraj, M., Talaiekhozani, A., Zin, R., Ismail, M., Abd Majid, M., Keyvanfar, A., & Kamyab, H. (2015, May 27). Bioconcrete strength, durability, permeability, recycling, and effects on human health: A review. Retrieved from

Portland cement organization. (2018). How Cement Is Made. Retrieved from

Stewart, A. (2016, March 7). The ‘living concrete’ that can heal itself. Retrieved from BIBLIOGRAPHY Brown, L. S., & Holme, T. A. (2011). Chemistry for Engineering students (2nd ed.). United States of America: Mary Finch.

Development, W. B. (2009, July). World Business Council for Sustainable Development. Retrieved September 06, 2019, from

Jones, E., Kisslinger, J., & Yatsenko, Y. (2019, March 08). University of Pittsburgh, Swanson School of Engineering. Retrieved September 6, 2019, from

Princeton. (n.d.). Princeton.edu. Retrieved september 07, 2019, from

As human beings, we are constantly exposed to significant knowledge that requires an in depth understanding. When a child grows up, understanding the ways of the world is a must however, at a young age not everything can be explained fully. Therefore, we are taught using explanations. Instinctively, emotions play a role in our understanding of knowledge and therefore explanations can vary. Giving a good answer to a ‘Why?’ question is not just a philosophical abstraction. An explanation has cognitive, real-world functions.

The question might have an easier answer if each branch of knowledge tied together and all people had similar values and levels of intelligence. Since this is not the case, explanations try to avoid being overwhelming by complexity and instead answer the question with a generalization. These brings the question whether good explanations have to be true.

Any explanation that appeals to the age and understanding of a person is always a good explanation. The Black Death, also known as the Great Plague, the Black Plague, or simply the Plague, was one of the most devastating pandemics in human history, resulting in the deaths of an estimated 75 to 200 million people in Eurasia and peaking in Europe from 1347 to 1351.

In the 1300s, the epidemic known as Black Death devastated the European region (Shapka, 2013). While the plague killed thousands of people, it made a severe scars and bubonic pus filled sores. The descriptions of what the plague did to the human body is highly graphic. Due to this, explaining it to children was not be advised.

Therefore, during the great plague, the rhyme “Ring around the

Rosie was created. The lyrics of this rhyme subtly yet effectively describe the cycle of what happens to someone when they have been hit with the plague (Appendix 1). The nursery rhyme is sung by most children today however most not being aware of its true meaning and that the song actually has very morbid roots. While this explanation speaks truth to a certain degree, the nature of its explanation does not clearly convey the true severity of the disease. While the explanation is true, the explanation is used to mask the dark truth of the plague by making it into a children’s rhyme. An explanation that is true may not convey every aspect of the truth depending on the person’s maturity and understanding. Explanations can be broken down into two main types: nomothetic and idiographic. Nomothetic is an explanation that establishes general laws and generalizations, while an idiographic explanation focuses on the individual suggesting that everyone is unique and therefore should be given an individual explanation. One type is not better than the other however, they could be more effective depending on who needs an explanation (Nichols, 2011). A common way of knowing, technology, is used in school almost everyday. When learning about computer science at a high school level, we are usually taught about technology, especially about functions of a computer, in a metaphorical sense.

By linking the WOK or technology and the AOKs, it becomes clear we are taught in a way to simplify and enhance our understanding. For example, we are taught that data in a computer is transferred by a bus and the components in the computer are living and can decide where each packet of data goes. As we continue to learn the subject, we learn about logic gates and truth tables which make it clear how the packets are really controlled. While we learn more and more about different aspects of computer technology, our understanding of the explanation we originally learned becomes more and more clear over time. This means that the explanation is originally unclear and unrealistic, but as more relevant personal knowledge is gained, the explanation seems to become better. This is clearly an idiographic explantation as it links directly to an individuals personal understanding. Explanations are good when they are appropriate for someones age and understanding however, can be developed over time as the person changes. This way of explaining is similar to learning about our home planet, Earth. At first it is really hard to accept that Earth is a sphere. Then we learn that the small yellow warm ball in the sky is not that small, but instead extremely large and very far away. It is also not orbiting earth but instead the earth is orbiting it. Later on in your learning journey, you learn that this is false. The earth does not orbit the sun. They orbit a common point. Even later, you learn that even that is false. Because it is only our description. Only a question of where you put the origin in of your reference frame. This approach to explaining our solar system is not true, however, it is good since the person would have at least a close understanding of how the Earth orbits (Siegel, 2018).

While we believe we know the truth by understanding explanations, we do not have the audacity to claim to know what is completely “true”. All that we can hope for is that we have come closer to the “truth”. As mentioned, it was once believed that the the sun revolved around the earth. Now we know that the earth revolves around the sun. But, we recently learned that there are many suns in a galaxy with planets revolving around them and, there are hundreds of galaxies revolving around a “black hole” (Siegel, 2018). So, we can only hope that our explanations are getting closer to the truth. The most advanced “scientific” explanations of our physical reality seem to be harmful to humanity. The interpretations of scientists have been that there is no purpose for humans in the universe and that the universe is meaningless. Does every explanation have to be completely true and accurate to be considered the best explanation? Every situation in our real lives can be broken down into steps. For example, to say that “I came home and ate dinner” can be brought down to several different branches of explanation such as “I cam home, took off my shoes, changed my clothes, and ate dinner”. We can continue this process all the way down to where there are only two options for everything decision. This is the mathematical side to explanations. Boolean algebra is an explanation in the form of 0s and 1s (Berry, 2017). By bringing down a situation to a binary representation gives the most accurate explanation of the situation. While all explanations appeal to a different factor based on who is it who is being explained, the only true explanation is the one which is the most accurate.

This means that the best explanations are not those which are explained with the most detailed words but instead those which are represented using mathematical diagrams and tables. Using boolean algebra is a nomothetic explanation and therefore establishes general laws and generalizations. However, most mathematical explanations are most likely not clear to any who is not well educated in the math field. This brings to question, are explanations good based on how well they are understood, or the accuracy of the explanation itself? Gaining knowledge all comes down to interpreting the truth. Explanations are essentially the “middle man” which makes the truth clear depending on the reader, filtering out any knowledge that does not fit the persons understanding. However, a good explanation does not necessarily have to be true but a true explanation is always good. If we think logically, a true explanation is always based on facts not opinions and it is far from being biased. So, it can’t be challenged because opinions are attacked, facts are not attacked. So, a true explanation is undebatable and so it is good. In conclusion, gaining knowledge by discovering the truth is very important however, depending on a persons understanding and values, an explanation would have to be modified. This means that the different “versions” of an explanation may not be effective for everyone. While a good explanation may not necessarily be true, it most likely appeals to the readers emotions and maturity of the topic. Due to this difference in perspectives between the general public and scientists, scientists believe that there may be a “psychological” dimension to humans which must also be considered before they expose the immensity of the truth upon them as an explanation’s only interpretation.

Inventories are items that are kept in stock for further processing or resell. Inventory is also the current amount of a product that a business has in stock. High levels of inventory or buffer inventory enables an organization to cope with surges in demand. But this would entail a considerable cost outlay, in holding high levels of inventory. Inventory management is primarily concerned with specifying the quantity and the reorder time in the manufacturing outfit. Inventory is required at different locations within a facility or within many locations of a supply network to precede the regular and planned course of production and stock of materials.

The concept of inventory or work in progress extends from manufacturing systems to commercial and service projects. Generally speaking, inventory could be said to be any work in the production process or all the work done or that has already taken place before the completion of production. The said work may have been carried out on raw materials or partially finished products, before the item leaves the production system.

As the item moves from one production centre to another, value is added to the item through processing.

The scope of inventory management refers to the balance between renewal time, inventory maintenance costs, asset management, inventory forecasting, inventory valuation, inventory visibility, inventory price forecasting, physical inventory, available physical space, quality management, replacement, return and defects. The balance of these competitive requirements leads to optimal inventory levels, which is an ongoing process as business needs change and respond to the larger environment.

It additionally involves systems and processes that determine inventory necessities, set targets, propose replacement techniques, report on the present and planned inventory standing, and manage all monitoring and reporting functions.

Material management includes monitoring equipment going into and out of warehouses and reconciling inventory balances. It may also include ABC analysis, batch tracking, cycle count support, and so on. Inventory management, the primary objective of which is to determine /control stock levels within the physical distribution system, is to balance the need for product availability with the need to minimize handling and holding costs.

The average cement industry in Nigeria spends 30 to 35 percent of the inventory value on inventory handling. Keeping a low level of inventory reduces company costs and minimizes losses from deteriorating items. Costs associated with deteriorating inventory, is easy seen in clinker that been stored in the open. Due to weathering of the clinker from environmental conditions, more clinker is required during finish grinding, thereby increasing the unit cost for cement production.

The inventory level and sales rate of a product can be used by a typical inventory manager to determine the optimal buffer stock level and the replenishment system to adopt.

About 50 million metric tons of Portland cement was produced in the Nigeria in 2017. For this amount of annual output, considering the fact that cement production follows the Line Production system, with different production centres, which have different capacities, there is the need to hold some level of inventory in-between production centres. This is further compounded by unplanned stoppages.

Therefore there is a need for carrying out an evaluation of optimal inventory management in a cement plant and this study provides a basis on that. It should be stated here that this work only considers inventory for cement production. Spares and maintenance inventories were not considered.

The United Cement Company of Nigeria Ltd (UniCem) is a private company whose core business is the manufacturing and supply of portland cement to its core markets of the South-South and South-East regions of Nigeria. The Plant 2 types of Portland cement, which are 32.5R, and 42.5N

United Cement Company was established in 2002 after Lafarge and Holcim acquired the assets of Calabar Cement Company (Calcemco). This lead to the building of a modern 2.5million metric tonnes per annum Greenfield Cement manufacturing Plant in Mfamosing, 40km north-east of Calabar, Cross River State. Prior to this time, the cement production was done in calabar. This entailed moving of raw materials from Mfamosing to Calabar.

The Mfamosing Plant, a modern production facility was formally inaugurated in May 2009.

United Cement Company in 2016 expanded her plant to 5 million metric tonnes per year.

Cement is a hydraulic binder that reacts and solidifies when it mixed with water. Today, concrete is the primary construction material, and cement is used in this regard. Cement, a construction sets, hardens, and adheres to other materials to bind them together. Cement is hardly used on its own, except in the making of mortar, for rendering. Cement is often used to bind sand, gravel and reinforcement bars to make concrete. Cement is the most widely used material in existence and is only behind water as the planet’s most-consumed resource.

The cement production is a technologically complex process. The basic raw material to produce cement is limestone. The limestone is mostly extracted by blasting. The boulders from these blasting are fed into the crushers by heavy transport equipment.

The crushers would then reduce the limestone to the required sized for the Raw Mill. It is important to point out that the product of the Raw Mill is called the Raw Meal. And this must meet some specified size and chemical composition for burning/clinkerization in the Kiln.

To produce clinker of the right quality, the raw meal fed to the kiln must meet a specified chemical composition. For this purpose, before the limestone is ground in the Raw Mill, clay, marl, silica, iron ore, sand, etc. are added to achieve this specified chemical composition.

The obtained limestone meal, being an intermediate product, is transported to the homogenizing silo for storage. This is clearly a WIP. For most plant design, the size of this silo, is around 3 days production feed for the rotary kiln.

The Raw Meal is then fed to the rotary kiln. In the kiln, different processes occur. From the drying/ removal of water at 100°c, to Calcination, and then clinkerization. The inclination of the kiln, moves the material from one end to the other for the completion of the process. The kiln is normally inclined at 4 degrees, with an anti-clockwise rotation speed of 4 Revolutions per Minute. The product of this process is clinker, which is an intermediate product in cement making. Some companies sell clinker to grinding terminals for cement making. The clinker is then ground to produce cement. Gypsum is added in the grinding to control the setting time of the cement. Additives (limestone, slag, pozzolana, volcanic ash, etc.), are added to increase the volume of cement.

Limestone is a carbonate sedimentary rock that is often composed of the skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral, foraminifera, and molluscs. Its major materials are the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate (CaCO3).

Limestone has numerous uses, amongst is the use for cement making.

About 10% of all sedimentary rocks are limestones.

Iron ores are rocks and minerals from which metallic iron can be economically extracted. The ores are usually rich in iron oxides and vary in colour from dark grey, bright yellow, or deep purple to rusty red. The iron is usually found in the form of magnetite (Fe3O4, 72.4% Fe), hematite (Fe2O3, 69.9% Fe), goethite (FeO(OH), 62.9% Fe), limonite (FeO(OH)·n(H2O), 55% Fe) or siderite (FeCO3, 48.2% Fe).

Ores containing very high quantities of hematite or magnetite (greater than about 60% iron) are known as “natural ore”.

Banded iron formations (BIFs) are sedimentary rocks containing more than 15% iron composed predominantly of thinly bedded iron minerals and silica (as quartz).

The mining involves moving tremendous amounts of ore and waste. The waste comes in two forms, non-ore bedrock in the mine (overburden or interburden).

Iron ore is used for correcting the chemistry of the raw meal, in cement making.

In the manufacture of Portland cement, clinker occurs as lumps or nodules, usually 3 millimetres (0.12 in) to 25 millimetres (0.98 in) in diameter. Portland cement clinker is made by heating a homogeneous mixture of raw materials in a rotary kiln at high temperature. The products of the chemical reaction aggregate together at their sintering temperature, about 1,450 °C.

Aluminium oxide and iron oxide are present only as a flux to reduce the sintering temperature and contribute little to the cement strength. The major raw material for the clinker-making is usually limestone mixed with a second material containing clay as source of alumino-silicate. Normally, an impure limestone which contains clay or silicon dioxide (SiO2) is used. The calcium carbonate (CaCO3) content of these limestones can be as low as 80%. Second raw materials (materials in the rawmix other than limestone) depend on the purity of the limestone. Some of the second raw materials used are: clay, shale, sand, iron ore, bauxite, fly ash and slag.

Clinker, if stored in dry conditions, can be kept for several months without appreciable loss of quality. Because of this, and because it can easily be handled by ordinary mineral handling equipment, clinker is traded internationally in large quantities. Manufacturers also ship clinker to grinding plants in areas where cement-making raw materials are not available.

Marl is a calcium carbonate or lime-rich mud or mudstone which contains variable amounts of clays and silt. The dominant carbonate mineral in most marls is calcite, but other carbonate minerals such as aragonite, dolomite, and siderite may be present. Marl was originally an old term loosely applied to a variety of materials, most of which occur as loose, earthy deposits consisting chiefly of an intimate mixture of clay and calcium carbonate, formed under freshwater conditions; specifically an earthy substance containing 35-65% clay and 65-35% carbonate. Marl is also used in achieving the raw meal chemistry.

Gypsum is a soft sulfate mineral composed of calcium sulfate di-hydrate, with the chemical formula CaSO4·2H2O.

Gypsum occurs in nature as flattened and often twinned crystals, and transparent, cleavable masses called selenite. Selenite may also occur in a silky, fibrous form, in which case it is commonly called “satin spar”. Finally, it may also be granular or quite compact. In hand-sized samples, it can be anywhere from transparent to opaque.

Gypsum plays a very important role in controlling the rate of hardening of the cement. During the cement manufacturing process, upon the cooling of clinker, a small amount of gypsum is introduced during the final grinding process. If not added, the cement will set immediately after mixing of water leaving no time for work men to form it into what they want.

A grinding aid is a specialty chemical agent used to make it easier to grind and mix cement. Specifically, grinding aids prevent cement particles from re-agglomeration, or re-adhering, during and after the grinding process. Grinding aids make it possible to streamline the cement-making process by increasing process efficiency and material fluidity. These benefits of cement grinding aid use also contribute to lower energy costs on the part of industrial mills.

The aid is generally added to the clinker at a fixed rate from 0.01% to 0.03% before entering to a finishing mill. As a result the grinding improves by 4% to 6% per 0.01% addition of aid. The aid also improved the dispersibility and fluidability of cement (powder) and weathering is delayed.

To attain the design plant capacity, there is the need for optimum annual levels of inventory, for production activities.

Efforts to link production management with various inventory management processes result in better planning of supply chain activities and better material management. These improvements results in better utilization of fixed assets and the attainment of the plant design capacity.

The main objective of the study is to develop a predictive regression model that will be used to address the factors that constrain optimum annual inventory levels in United Cement Plant Calabar. The specific objectives are;

The results of the analysis and ranking will guide the plant management in designing and implementing the optimum inventory management system in place.

The scope of this work, is limited to the prevailing inventory management policy, the evaluation of annual inventory levels of the cement plant, identification and evaluation of constraining factors on inventory management, and the establishment of optimum inventory management systems, with the aim of finding a relationship between the optimum inventory level and plant operations costs. This study is looks critically at the activities of UniCem Plc, Mfamosing, Cross River State, Nigeria, as regards her inventory management.

Tropical moist woods cover about ( 10-15 % ) of the Earth ‘s surface country, and contain about ( 50-90 % ) of the universe ‘s zoology and vegetation species ( Struhsaker, 1987 ; Grove, 1997 ) . Of the staying tropical moist woods in Uganda, merely about ( 4 % ) is lawfully protected from marauding development ( Lanly, 1982 ; Myers, 1984 ) . Tropical moist woods likely covered more than ( 6 % ) of Uganda ‘s Earth ‘s land surface country at one clip Butynski ( 1984 ) , but due to agricultural pattern, these woods have been reduced by at least half ( Butynski, 1985 ; Struhsaker, 1987 ) . The natural woods staying now are majorly the forest protected country ‘s ( PA ‘s ) , and may non go on to be in the following 15-20 old ages ( Struhsaker, 1981 ) .

Today, these woods occupy less than half of the Ugandan ‘s land surface they covered 50 old ages ago, and the zoology and vegetations are confronting dynamic force per unit area all over its environments. For illustration, the Virunga Landscape Massif ( VLM ) is under extraordinary force per unit area, and the menace is orchestrated by mushrooming human growing at the interface ( Plumptre, et al.

, 2003 ) .

Similarly, Mgahinga Gorilla National Park ( MGNP ) is non alone to these phenomena, and underpins increasing dynamic force per unit area and spacial menaces beyond its ecological matrix ( Myers, et al. , 2000 ; Plumptre, et al. , 2003 ) . The Mgahinga natural afromotane wood left, among others for biodiversity preservation is under protection on portion of Uganda. The MGNP prevarication within the Albertine Rift Endemics ( ARE ) part continues to absorb increased home ground loss, and this has translated into spacial menaces to the endurance of endangered mountain gorillas ( Gorilla beringei beringei ) , and other species due to human influence ( Grubb, et al.

, 2003 ) . At present MGNP acts as an ”Ecological Island ” in a sea of diverse human activities, and more so is portion of the Virunga Landscape Massif ( VLM ) . The country has a high biological quality, as it comprises non merely the scope of the mountain gorillas, but besides a significant portion of that of the aureate monkey ( Cercopithecus mitis kandti ) are comparatively distributed Grubb, et Al. ( 2003 ) , and enlisted among endangered species by IUCN across the massif, and other restricted scope species includes bluish monkey ( Cercopithecus mitis ) .

The montane woods in East Africa form an archipelago recognized to hold unambiguously adapted works and animate being species the same manner that Oceanic Islands do ( Hamilton, 1976 ; 1980 ; Stuart, 1990 ; Mackinnon and Mackinnon, 1986 ) . Indigenousness is peculiarly high in these afro-tropical kingdoms. For illustration, the Usambara Mountains represent what is likely one of the wealths biological communities in Africa in footings of species Numberss and indigenousness with per centum of endemic taxa changing from ( 2 % ) in mammals to ( 95 % ) for millepedes ( Rodgers and Homewood, 1982 ) . The Ruwenzori forest contains the lone population of the highly rare race, Colobus angolensis ruwenzorii ( Struhsaker, 1981 ) .

The MGNP is portion of the alone leftover montane woods staying in Uganda, and hosts an array of mammal ‘s reptilians, birdlife and works ethno vegetation, mostly considered endemic to the ARE, and a twosome of bookmans have described AR as biodiversity hot spot of import for biological preservation in Africa ( Myers, et al. , 2000 ; Plumptre, et al. , 2003 ) . The topography and ecological ecosystems makes MGNP a thrilling biological rich point for preservation chiefly, due to the Parkss place and height. In add-on, MGNP is critical for H2O catchment, and alteration of clime conditions in the country. The rivers which flow out of the park provide fresh H2O to the local communities environing MGNP and carnal communities. For illustration, the ecosystem provides services such as nutrient, shelter fiber, fresh air and filtered H2O ( Rapport, 1998 ) . Therefore, the break of these natural systems poses spacial menaces to both human wellness, and wildlife community every bit good. Human activities are increasing the spacial menaces to the home ground, and critically endangered mountain gorilla ‘s population. Agricultural forms at the park matrix are in addition, and sensitive mechanisms are required to keep the home ground geomorphology for the endurance of wildlife and ecological ecosystems.

The survey has been stimulated chiefly by the implicit in dynamic force per unit areas associated with the direction of ecological home ground, and the endurance of the critically endangered mountain gorillas population in face of increasing habitat loss. These dynamic force per unit areas and spacial menaces pose important challenge to the preservation of the MGNP amidst the rate of home ground alteration, due to human growing. It is mostly believed that these dynamic force per unit areas are responsible for the loss of some ( 2 % ) every twelvemonth of the staying tropical high wood in Uganda ( Hamilton, 1984 ) . The detonating human population coupled with agricultural pattern around MGNP boundaries, have been linked to the big scale devastation of a fromontane wood. The wood has been undergoing intensive devastation through illegal use originating out of dynamic force per unit areas. For illustrations i.e the Agricultural patterns, poaching, resource harvest home, smuggling through the PA, fire incidences. The MGNP protects a big figure of works and carnal species endemic to the ARE ( Kalina, 1991 ) , including the endangered mountain gorilla. The function of woods in H2O catchment, bar of implosion therapy, siltation and dirt eroding is good documented ( Hamilton, 1984 ; Struhsaker, 1987 ) .

In creased human population give rise to a greater demand for land for agribusiness, and this has lead to ecological menaces to the biodiversity loss on one manner or another and even intervention of mountain gorilla ( Gorilla beringei beringei ) place scope. This automatically leads to ecological menaces for the endurance of the endangered mountain gorillas, and other species of animate beings in the park. Let entirely the spacial menaces of incidental fires on home ground, which will be assessed including foreign species composing and their influence on the site will besides be noted. This survey in MGNP will lend to long-run preservation of critically endangered mountain gorillas population and its ecological environments. Since the PA rests in landscape, which straddles the international common boundary lines, and dynamic force per unit areas from local communities are felt at PA interface.

This relationship needs to be good understood in order to protect more suitably the mountain gorilla ‘s population, and ecological home ground direction. Furthermore, mountain gorilla is listed in Appendix I of Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of wild zoologies and vegetations ( CITES ) , and in category Angstrom of the African Convention on the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources by World Conservation Union ( IUCN ) and restricted to ARE under menace of extinction.

Meanwhile, the park has been set aside by authorities to carry through these demands: biodiversity and environmental preservation, eco-tourism, preservation instruction and applied research field research lab. On the other manus, the park is little, without any buffer zone, and wildlife struggles originating out of destructive and unsafe animate beings that move out of the park are resented by the local communities around and are a beginning of changeless complains to the park direction. Policy shapers in the field of wildlife preservation and direction in Uganda need information sing the undermentioned inquiries:

What are the causal dynamic force per unit areas, and how make these force per unit areas affect the endurance of endangered mountain gorillas population in face of both short and long-run in Mgahinga Gorilla National Park?

To place implicit in spacial menaces in PA, and measure the impact of the menaces to the preservation of the species in relation to ecological home ground?

What possible step can continue the endurance of the endangered mountain gorillas population, and its ecological home ground?

What can be done to pull off and modulate get awaying debatable animate beings out of Mgahinga Gorilla National Park?

Personal enthusiasm to hunt and happen advanced practical solutions to show and possible hereafter challenges associated with adult male ‘s marauding activities, and his environment. However, possibly to put footmark to understand the extend to what countries do habitat ecology show high kineticss tendency ( positive / negative ) or merely really little alteration with regard to the ecological dynamic force per unit areas, which should be investigated?

LITERATURE REVIEW

Conservation History of MGNP and Legislative Background

The MGNP being one of the cardinal bio-diverse Parkss in the part, and moving as safety for the rare Primatess and other species widely considered of planetary significance, emerged from the historical context ( Werikhe, 1991 ; Butynski ) . For illustration, the blue monkey, mountain gorilla and ruddy monkey all safety within the VLM and their scope form is ecologically restricted to the country. The MGNP therefore, under went through assorted administrative direction challenges amidst dynamic force per unit areas and spacial menaces, since 1930 ‘s, until the late 1991, when preservation direction of the MGNP was upgraded to national park position ( Werikhe, 1991 ) .

Consequently, the park retained the same defined boundaries as original Game Sanctuary. The National Park Act so, now the Wildlife Act ( 2000 ) offers all vegetations and fauna protection, and the people are non allowed to shack in the PA, since the home ground holds an impressive and diverse endemic species within the AR ecosystem. Unfortunately, the rich biodiversity of MGNP continued to absorb dynamic force per unit areas, and menaces from all corners. Let entirely, the violent struggle which engulfed the VLM in 1990, when the Rwandese origin split out of Uganda and engaged authorities forces that ruled Rwanda. These forces frequently fought from within the MGNP boundaries. This entirely set background to wild game, and poaching claimed important force per unit area and menaces to MGNP wildlife resources. The wild game, of class, felt victims of circumstance amidst the Rebel groups and convention forces and wildlife dared the effects of the war.

It is, nevertheless, argued that authorities failure to incorporate the local communities to preservation of MGNP, resulted in a important heavy invasion on the park ‘s environments Werikhe, ( 1991 ) , and the home ground geomorphology was drastically reduced. As a consequence, the park experienced dynamic force per unit areas and coiling menaces, a lifting out of predatory resource extraction, mostly associated with the home ground morphological loss manifested by extremist poaching of wild game. The PA became a theater of dynamic force per unit areas, though is portion of the VLM, frequently recognized as singular scope of biodiversity hot spot lodging species of planetary scientific qualities and their endurance is in the wink of an oculus including the home ground geomorphology ( Languy and De Merode, 2006 ) .

After the gazettment 1991, the preservation state of affairs improved when Uganda National Parks ( UNP ‘s ) and international givers stepped in to supply substructure, equipments, preparation of human resources, biological and socio-economic research commenced. The Uganda national Parkss as the implementing bureau for recommending local community engagement on park issues established active coaction with the environing local communities, and gained their regard. The biodiversity of MGNP progressively contributes non merely on planetary context, but for the wellbeing of the local communities adjacent the PA ecological boundaries. Therefore, MGNP has experienced extremist spacial menaces at the interface, which has translated into species loss and habitat geomorphology every bit good. For illustration, the Parkss mega species are under dynamic force per unit areas, and their endurance is threatened by accelerated loss of habitat geomorphology.

The dynamic procedures of biodiversity are incrementally unreplaceable, and the home ground geomorphology has been fractured by human dynamic force per unit areas, and yet the species gathering is of important importance to keep the unity of the PA and their endurance is threatened. It is indispensable to conserve and offer considerable protection to species constituents that are both valued and are well threatened. The dynamic force per unit area and spacial menaces are progressively endangering their endurance particularly the wild game, and the home ground geomorphology is shriveling, due to human marauding development of biological resources from within the PA ‘s ecological boundaries ( Boy 1989 ; McNeely, 1989 ) . Meanwhile these resources are mostly viewed in context of the national assets Kiss ( 1990 ) point out that, the protection and direction of these bio-diverse resources lies in the custodies of the province. In Uganda the most important biological resources range from workss and carnal species. Of class, the authorities of Uganda ( GoU ) attaches great value and support to better their direction for long-run preservation every bit good as their sustainability. Although, possibly the success of the PA ‘s direction depends mostly on the grade of support and regard awarded to the PA by the local communities populating next the PA boundaries ( MacKinnon, et al. , 1982 ) .

However, preservation force per unit areas remain with figure of current spacial menaces in the face of MGNP now felt amidst its proverbial boundaries, and VLM inclusive. The MGNP boundaries are non clearly demarcated and dynamic force per unit areas continues to exercise spacial menaces. For illustration, travel and smuggling of goods there are many illegal paths with their pathwaies, pose a spacial menace to biodiversity by perturbation of wildlife, poaching and by interrupting up carnal place scope or districts, and hence curtailing free runing forms of wildlife in the park. The self-generated human growing at the interface of VLM is typical background to one of the universe ‘s important bio-diverse and of import massif ecosystem, which straddles boundary lines of the three Country ‘s keeping the rarest species. Mankind coiling activities are endangering in peculiar the mountain gorilla ‘s population endurance and its ecological niche.

Conservation Status of Mountain Gorillas Population

Mountain gorilla ( Gorilla beringei beringei ) is mostly recognized as critically endangered species, and restricted to the VLM, which include Mgahinga Gorilla National Park in Uganda, Parc National des Virunga in DRC and Parck diethylstilbestrols Volcan in Rwanda. The population has been described by twosome of writers as critically because, it is estimated to be about 700 single staying within the VLM their endurance on base point is critical in country. As a consequence of being forest inhabitants, they are element of ARE gathering of workss and carnal species. For illustration, Butynski ( 1997 ) and Struhsaker ( 1997 ) assert the fact that, the non-human Primatess are frequently sympatric with other species. Therefore, the mountain gorillas and Pan troglodytess are ”charismatic mega species ” of planetary preservation significance. It is, nevertheless, unfortunate that the African magnetic apes are in threshold of extinction notwithstanding their significance.

Mountain Gorillas are Susceptible to Diseases

The mountain gorillas are extremely vulnerable to infective diseases, frequently livestock find unprecedented ways into MGNP, and at some point farm animal intermingle with wild game at the interface. Livestock graze in the park degrades the home ground geomorphology, and present a hazard of disease transmittal across the interface between wild populations peculiarly the mountain gorillas and farm animal ( WCS-FVP, 2003b ) . Often, these dynamic force per unit areas jumping from resource competition, and farm animal breed infective diseases detrimental to the endurance of the wild game populations in the park. Interplay for disease transmittal is typically tight on dynamic relationships that subsist between worlds and the mountain gorillas. The mountain gorillas are extremely susceptible to proverbial diseases, and their endurance is progressively going unstable on preservation base point.

The emerging dynamic force per unit areas at the interface of the home ground geomorphology represent infective diseases. For illustration, the immediate eruption of ebola virus in DRC, posed important spacial menace to the endurance of the mountain gorillas population in the rim of VLM, and the part. In Central Africa, it was reported in twelvemonth 2001 to 2003, that ebola virus accounted for considerable figure of the low land gorillas ( Gorilla beringei graueri ) population ( WCS-FVP, 2003c ) . The survey will try to an Earth the magnitude of these dynamic force per unit areas indicated as posed to wild animate beings such as antelopes and the mega species threatened by homo ‘s marauding influence. Werikhe ( 1991 ) noted important menaces aiming antelopes and other mammals with traps. This is straight destructive to the home ground of wild game and other animate beings of high preservation values. However, croping of farm animal in the MGNP will be revealed during the survey.

Location and size:

Mgahinga Gorilla National Park is situated in the corner of Southwestern Uganda in Kisoro District, bordered by the Republic of Rwanda to the South and the Democratic Republic of Congo ( DRC ) to the West. It covers an country of 33.7km? and prevarications at latitude 1 & A ; deg ; 23 ‘ South and longitude 29 & A ; deg ; 39 ‘ East ( see Figure1.0 ) below. MGNP is immediate with Parc National des Virunga ( 240km? ) in the DRC, and Parc National diethylstilbestrols Volcan ( 160km? ) in Rwanda, all organizing atri-Country part with three PA ‘s known as the VLM mensurating 434 km? . The MGNP therefore, includes three of the Virunga ‘s recognized Volcanic Mountains such as saddle horse Muhabura ( 4,127m ) , mountain Gahinga ( 3,474m ) from which the park derives its name, and saddle horse Sabinyo ( 3,645m ) . Interestingly, the park lies within the Bufumbira county Nyarusiza and Muramba bomber counties and surrounded by three Parishs of Gisozi, Rukongi and Gitenderi. The MGNP gazetment stems from chiefly to protect the mountain gorillas population and to conserve ecological biodiversity of vulnerable species, rare workss and animate beings mostly endemic to the ARE, since the park falls within the Great Virunga Landscape ( GVL ) .

Figure 1.0 Shows the location of the undertaking site MGN, Uganda

Beginning: Angela Meder and 2000

The base will be at Ntebeko the park central office. Daily field activities are expected to be carried out within a radius of 20 kilometer from the base station although occasional possibilities of holding greater distance to go into the ” VLM ” may non be ruled out. These countries are of peculiar involvement to the park because:

there are recorded incidences of illegal graze from all over this scope which come into the park, rather frequently from the environing parishes.

Incidental fires have had ecological influence on the home ground, and normally used by local communities adjacent the park.

Establishing on these statements the survey sites may cover over 10km? , based on the country of involvement, since the PA straddles beyond international common boundary lines in peculiar Parc National de Virunga in DRC and Parc National diethylstilbestrols Volcans of Rwanda, as a consequence of the common massif.

The chief aim of this survey is to measure the dynamic force per unit areas for the preservation and direction of MGNP biodiversity under the umbrella of endangered mountain Gorilla ( Gorilla beringei beringei ) populations, and other runing wildlife species in MGNP, Southwestern, Uganda. Ultimately, the survey intends to insulate good informed practical solutions to the major direction force per unit areas associated with spacial menaces for the endurance of the endangered mountain gorillas population, and its ecological home ground. The most important qualities for this park are the afromontane forest, high biological indigenousness, H2O catchment, and ecological home ground to the critically endangered mountain gorilla. The ecological dynamic force per unit areas associated with menaces and emerging chances will be revealed in the class of the survey. For illustration, the dynamic force per unit areas that is to be addressed and exploited towards accomplishing the endurance of endangered mountain gorillas population and its home ground.

3.1 Specific aims of this survey include:

to place implicit in dynamic force per unit areas to ecological home ground and measure the spacial menace to the endurance of the endangered mountain gorillas population in MGNP, South western, Uganda.

to compare sites of species runing form, if can be linked to dynamic force per unit areas and habitat quality.

to set up emerging chances for sustainable preservation and development.

to research possible cross-border co-operation ( Uganda, Rwanda and DRC )

to suggest and urge spacial built-in direction steps necessary to extenuate coiling home ground maltreatment in countries within and parks ecological boundaries.

The survey country will be subdivided into three stratified blocks from E to west with variable length, and checked with a planetary placement system ( GPS ) in the field. The survey blocks will be assessed exactly to find spacial force per unit areas and menaces to the home ground ecology. Menaces will be ranked harmonizing to spacial force per unit areas of the country affected, strength, and urgency in order to find the grade of menaces to ecological biodiversity. Each block will be assessed four times to obtain significant information record, through systematical appraisal of survey blocks, due to habitat fluctuation. The undermentioned, force per unit areas and menaces on the ecosystem will be discussed: – minor expense fires, poaching ( animals/timber ) , invasive species, illegal graze, road/footpath through park, overharvesting of non-timber wood merchandises ( NTFP ) , harvest raiding, increased human population, loss of forest home ground, and increased gulley eroding.

The method will include rating and appraisal of the home ground and status by using menace decrease appraisal ( TRA ) attack, which allows comparing of different survey blocks. The TRA aggregation informations signifier will be designed, and the appraisal includes specifying the dynamic menaces and what 100 % decrease means for each menace identified, and comparatively ranked in conformity with magnitude. Land counts from blocks will be used to gauge mountain gorilla populations, and other species spacial distribution in relation to habitat quality. Another set of informations form consist of three subdivisions: get awaying debatable animate beings, resource extraction from the park linked with habitat debasement, instruction and age construction, and the signifiers will be administered to local community adjacent the park, and direction including the comparative history of the ecological home ground. The quantitative consequences of ecological home ground analysis will be compared with other blocks to find comparative sensitiveness of spacial force per unit areas, and whether the marauding extraction of habitat resources by homo has dynamic menace to the preservation of mountain gorillas population. The information generated both quantitative and qualitative from all survey sites will be tallied and analyzed.

The equipments that might be required include: GPS, Measuring tape, Binocular, Back packs, First Aid Kit, Field cogwheel, hip concatenation and topofil yarn.

Data analysis will be done by menace decrease appraisal index ( TRA Index ) technique to uncover the degree of spacial menace to habitat and mountain gorilla relationship. The quantitative and qualitative informations obtained will be coded, so informations entry procedure utilizing an appropriate computing machine bundle such as Statistical Package for the Social Sciences ( SPSS ) , which facilitates the procedure of informations analysis in a more precise and appropriate manner. Microsoft Excel as good will be used for bring forthing descriptive statistics in signifier of histograms or saloon graphs, pie-charts, diagrams and tabular signifier. Analysis of discrepancy ( ANOVA ) , correlativity technique and pupil ‘s t-Test will be used to measure spacial relationship between home grounds and mountain gorilla ‘s use of the country. The methods proposed are quantitative, precise, and efficient and run into the ends of resource directors with minimal prejudice.

Not all end products ( deliverables ) of the survey can be listed here but every attempt has been made to advert the most direct and obvious 1s. These are:

information generated from this survey will be a valuable tool to foretell the graduated table at which magnitude the spacial menaces affects the endurance of mountain gorillas vis-a-vis direction intercession, and to accommodate the prevalent conditions of the ecological home ground for sustainable preservation and development.

ecological spacial menaces and population position will be revealed including displaced, endangered, threatened, rare and undetermined populations.

There will be extra cognition obtained on natural resource direction necessary to extenuate home ground menaces and loss of biodiversity, and to prosecute the local communities to work touristry chances and hence support preservation intercession.

the necessary proficient and institutional parametric quantities indispensable to advance home ground and endangered mountain gorilla preservation in the MGNP, and Cross-border touristry development will be revealed.

the important factors to be considered in order to advance stakeholders built-in direction for VLM agreement will be established to back up local community consciousness of the values of preservation and ecological services of MGNP, and therefore cut down spacial struggles between the local communities and the park/wildlife.

to supply information and recommendations to better on direction intercession for the endurance of mountain gorillas population and other species.

Investigator ( Student ) 1

Field Assistant 2

Principal Supervisor 1

Second Supervisor 1

Incidental local unskilled labour 2

WHO estimated global mortality rate due to indoor pollution to be 7.7%; a percentage that was more than from Malaria, tuberculosis, and HIV/AIDS combined yet it a widespread health risk that was overlooked by the society (WHO, 2016). Further WHO, (2016) established that household indoor pollution was a health risk factor and a silent killer worldwide whereby Women, girls and children were the most affected by particulate matter pollution from cooking fuels. Emerging evidence on household air pollution problems included stillbirths, low birth weight, cervical cancer, tuberculosis, and upper respiratory infections (WHO, 2016).

The use of firewood may be classified as ‘high risk’ open fire accident. Interestingly, only smoke was reported in this study indicating that the Ministry of Health had a big role in creating awareness of health risk factors associated with traditional sources of energy used by rural households in Muusini Location.

Firewood and charcoal burning have led to land degradation because indigenous trees take long to grow in arid and semi-arid areas.

Charcoal production was found to have negative impact on forest goods such as fruits, medicine, and water quality, control of soil erosion, biodiversity, and carbon sequestration especially where the trees were slow growing like semi- arid and arid areas (Neufeldt et al., 2015). This study revealed evidence of bare land, soil erosion and loss of biodiversity at the site of the study as demonstrated by plate 5.3.

Mandelli et al, (2014) found that cooking took place in houses and contributed to indoor pollution. Gases produced included Carbon monoxide, oxides of nitrogen, respirable particles, surfur, benzene polyaromatic compounds, formaldehyde, and 1, and 3 butadiene.

The gases caused environmental and health burdens at local levels. The same practice was confirmed by our study because cooking took place in kitchens but the participants did not report indoor air pollution except smoke.

Previous studies like (Austin and Mc Cathy 2016; WHO, 2016) established that there was time wastage, risk of injuries and assaults during firewood collection by women and children. None of the respondents in the current study was aware of the risks or time wasted by the children or women while collecting firewood confirming that inequality labor issues may continue if not addressed immediately.

Charcoal burning releases greenhouse gases to the atmosphere at local level. Africa is at the top in emitting such gases, with Somalia leading in charcoal production. Charcoal production downgrades woodlands and the areas are subjected to reduced ecosystem services. In our study it was observed that land degradation was common as discussed in 3.3. In Kenya, wood fuel is in high demand. It was estimated that Kenya requires 35 million tons yearly yet the supply was 15 million tons. The high demand has led to deforestation and land degradation. (Vezzoli et al., 2018; Specht et al., 2015) reported native forest degradation in Brazilian Atlantic forest due to high demand of fuel wood. According to (Specht et al., 2015), wildlife manager had ignored human modified landscapes that had changed the natural habitat. Mensah and Adu (2013) observed that there was deforestation that led to soil erosion, loss of natural habitat and was comparable with our study’s observations especially where clearing of shrubs led to bare land.

In Kenya, charcoal production creates jobs for approximately 1.6 million people. In Kajiado, County, charcoal was found to be transported to urban centers such as Nairobi. The charcoal producers were found to be exploited by charcoal businessmen who bought the charcoal at a low price and transported it to urban centers. In Kenya, charcoal gives approximately US $ 1.6 billion. Semi-arid areas are sources of charcoal; for example Somalia was found to be the top producer of charcoal used by Gulf States. Acacia nilatia trees and other hard semi-arid areas wood species are endangered in Somalia by the high rate of charcoal production (Zalengera et al., 2014; Neufeldt et al., 2015; Kariuki et al., 2017). In this study, respondents reported extinction of some plant species due to charcoal/ firewood use. Our study established that hardwood trees were preferred because they produced quality charcoal. Okoko et al., (2017) reported similar results in evaluating tree species used by charcoal producers in Kitui and Moshi. The respondents reported that they preferred indigenous tree that produce heavy charcoal but were slow in growing and vulnerable to extinction as a result of overexploitation. Bonjour et al., (2015) reported that the use of fuel wood was in the decline between 1980 and 2010 from 62 percent to 42 percent with exception of Africa but the number of household who were utilizing fuel wood remained the same.

Some studies do not support the evidence of forest degradation as a result of firewood and charcoal for example studies carried out in Congo, Senegal and Mozambique (Neufeldt et al., 2015; Mandelli et al., 2018). According to Bhatt et al., (2016), other activities were responsible for deforestation other than wood fuel. In Eastern Himalayas, grazing, urban development, and cultivation led to deforestation. The scholars argued that increase in population and agriculture were the major causes of land degradation and deforestation. The studies further argued that some tree species regrow after disturbance and household firewood came from dead, dying or dry trees. In areas of commercial charcoal supplies, reforestation was possible after extraction for example in Philippines.

Plate 5.3: Photo illustrating a degraded land due cutting of native shrubs at the study area.

5.6: Impacts of the over utilization of sources of wood fuel

Charcoal and firewood have led to bare land causing land degradation at local level. The plants in Muusini Location take a long period to grow. Frequent droughts have affected land cover and tree regeneration is difficult. Grazing and heavy rains expose the bare land to soil erosion leaving the land infertile or gullies. Bare land causes dust when it is windy, a challenge for those who wish to install solar PV systems. Use of solar energy for cooking can reduce extinction of plants reported by the respondents.

According to Mengistu et al., (2015) over 90 percent of rural households in Ethiopia and Cameroon rely on traditional biomass for cooking. For example in Ethiopia rural households in Amhara and Tigray use dung because of fuel wood scarcity, because the demand exceeds the supply. Mengistu et al., (2015), argued further that Ethiopia had untouched renewable energy sources and those exploited, were not fully utilized. In this context, our study revealed the same results that solar energy was not fully exploited in Muusini location.

According to Sakiliba et al., (2015), 77% of energy in Gambia came from firewood, 21% from petroleum and 2% from electricity. Studies by (Veremachi, et al, 2016; Jadhav et al, 2017) found that over 80% households in Mozambique and Malawi used biomass for cooking which was becoming scarce as a result of change in land use. Our findings were similar and some respondents reported that it had become difficult in collecting enough firewood for cooking in their farms. Kemausuer’s study (2016), found out that all households in Zimbrama community lacked clean energy for cooking. Zambrama community used three stones technique for cooking and was similar to the cooking techniques used in our study as discussed in chapter three

Previous studies from African countries reported similar results of wood fuel as the major source of energy for cooking for example in Malawi firewood was a major source of energy for cooking with 88 percent (Zalengera et al, 2014). This was higher than in our study were firewood contributed to 75 percent of the total energy source for cooking. Another study carried out in Nigeria by Ogwumike and Ozughah (2015), found that the use of firewood for cooking contributed to 68.98% of the total sources of energy for cooking. A study carried out by Mensah and Adu (2013) in Ghana showed similar findings that fuel wood was the main source of energy for cooking in rural households with 56.1 percent which was lower than Muusini households. The studies confirm that traditional sources of energy are the main source of energy for cooking. Africa, was ranked number one in using polluting sources of energy World Health Organization (WHO, 2016). According to WHO (2016) analysis, about 80% of rural households depend on biomass for cooking and in Africa; approximately 95% rely on biomass while 62% in South Asia rely on biomass.

In Turkey fuel wood was the primary source of energy for cooking and was tradable. In India, 63% of rural households used firewood for cooking, 23% crop residue, and 11% used liquid