Wood energy is the use of fuelwood or charcoal for heating, electricity or cooking. This sector contributes to the energy security of many populations, particularly in Africa. It is a source of income for the poorest households, but can also exert considerable pressure on biodiversity, particularly forests.
The wood-energy sector covers all activities linked to the use of wood to produce heat or electricity. 6 BIODEV2030 countries have selected logging as a priority economic sector that contributes to biodiversity erosion and national development. Four have specifically selected the wood-energy sector: Ethiopia, Guinea (carbonization), Kenya (carbonization) and Uganda.
ECONOMIC STAKEHOLDERS & CHALLENGES Wood energy
Over the past three decades, the number of people in Africa dependent on wood fuel has grown steadily. Used directly as firewood or transformed into charcoal (carbonization process), wood-energy is the main source of energy for 83% of the population in sub-Saharan Africa. In Ethiopia, it accounts for 90% of total energy use.
Commercial wood-energy chains generate considerable turnover for local economies and are essential to the rural economy. In Kenya, for example, the charcoal industry alone generates $1.6 billion a year.
The sector is a major contributor to the GDP of sub-Saharan African countries. It also provides millions of jobs for producers, transporters, traders and sellers. In Uganda, the charcoal industry contributes $26 million to GDP. It employs an estimated 870,000 people, nearly 60% of them from rural areas. In terms of employment, if not in financial terms, its order of magnitude is comparable to that of cash crops.
Despite its ever-increasing socio-economic importance, the production and trade of wood fuel often remain essentially informal activities. The sector is not organized, and its legal framework is inadequate or even inappropriate, with harmful consequences for biodiversity.
+54,3%
projected increase in wood production in Africa between 2015 and 2030
Source: Madon, Gérard. "Le bois, énergie de première nécessité en Afrique. Une ressource trop souvent négligée", Afrique contemporaine, vol. 261-262, no. 1-2, 2017, pp. 201-222.
THE IMPACTS OF THE WOOD ENERGY INDUSTRY ON BIODIVERSITY
Firewood supply is considered a major cause of deforestation, and more generally of biodiversity erosion. This is particularly true near urban areas, where demand is growing. In most sub-Saharan African countries, less than 5% of wood fuel comes from dedicated plantations. As a result, almost all production comes from natural resources.
These pressures have numerous consequences for the structure, function and biodiversity of forests (soil erosion and impoverishment, loading of rivers with fine elements, soil slippage, etc.). Indirectly, this has a negative impact on livestock breeding, agriculture and access to water for species and inhabitants alike.
However, its impact varies according to the type of collection. Intensive, market-oriented collection is more devastating than rural collection, from solid agricultural waste or dead wood for local consumption.
-12%
Forest cover in sub-Saharan Africa between 1990 and 2014
Source: Madon, Gérard. "Le bois, énergie de première nécessité en Afrique. Une ressource trop souvent négligée", Afrique contemporaine, vol. 261-262, no. 1-2, 2017, pp. 201-222.
The firewood sector has a negative impact on biodiversity due to :
1. Forest degradation, even deforestation: fragmentation and destruction of natural habitats, loss of biodiversity, reduction in water resources and all the ecosystem services provided by forests.
2. Harvesting practices: diversifying energy wood supply chains would reduce pressure on forests and enable waste from other sectors (e.g. agricultural or timber) to be recycled.
3. These impacts are due in particular to a poorly regulated informal sector, with little or no supervision of firewood harvesting practices.