REVIEW OF WOODFUEL PRODUCTION AND UTLIZATION IN AFRICA Ashbindu Singh Environmental Pulse Institute Ashbindu@gmail.com
Context In 2015, the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 7 was adopted for 2030, “ to ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy for all ”. • The three pillars of sustainable energy are - Energy access, - Energy efficiency and - Renewable energy. Energy access involves access to electricity and to clean fuels and technologies for cooking • Wood fuel is the single most important energy source in Africa for the majority of households.
Tracking progress towards SDG 7 • Over 645 million people do not have access to electricity. • Africa uses as much as 70 per cent of its energy consumption from renewable sources, mostly because of its heavy reliance on biomass; • With current trends, it will take Africa until 2080 to achieve full access to electricity. • By some estimates, an investment of about US$ 43-55 billion per year is needed until 2030-2040 to meet demand and provide universal access to electricity, whereas currently, investment in the energy sector is about US$ 8-9.2 billion.
Purpose of f this desk study • The current status of wood fuel use as energy sources in Africa. • Identifies opportunities for using wood energy more sustainably • Outlines the key challenges to achieving a sustainable biomass energy production, marketing and consumption system (in the wood fuel and charcoal value chains). • It proposes workable options to address these challenges.
Key fi findings : : What is is Status • In 2014, 3.04 billion people in the world (of 7 billion) had no access to clean cooking fuel; of these, about 800 million people were from Sub- Saharan Africa (excluding Northern Africa). • Biomass forms the fourth-largest energy source worldwide after coal, oil and natural gas. • Africa currently uses ten times as much energy to cook similar amounts of food than other regions of the world that use modern technologies. • Of all the wood used as fuel worldwide, about 17 per cent is converted to charcoal. This figure for Africa is about 16%.
Access to electricity and clean cooking Access to clean fuels and Access to electricity (% of population) technologies for cooking (% of population) Region Total Urban Rural Total 1990 2000 2010 2012 2014 2014 2014 2000 2010 2012 2014 73 78 84 85 85 96 73 50 56 56 57 World 38 38 43 45 47 76 27 25 25 25 25 Africa 75 81 85 86 88 95 80 75 83 84 85 North Africa 23 26 32 35 37 70 17 11 12 12 12 Rest of Africa
Proportion of households cookin ing wit ith wood fuel, l, by y regio ion and fuel l typ ype, , 2011 Share of households where wood is the Estimated population using woodfuel for main fuel used for cooking (%) cooking (‘000) Region Fuelwood Charcoal Woodfuel Fuelwood Charcoal Woodfuel 53 10 63 555,098 104,535 659,632 Africa 37 1 38 1,571,223 59,034 1,630,257 Asia and Oceania 3 0 3 19,001 156 19,157 Europe 0 0 0 0 0 0 North America 15 1 16 89,569 5,383 94,952 Latin America and the Caribbean 32 2 34 2,234,890 169,108 2,403,998 World
Projected total pri rimary ry energy demand in in Afr frica, 2014-2040 2040
Regional shares of fir irewood production, , 2000 and 2013
Shares of Africa’s firewood consumption by user, 2000 and 2013
Tree cover dis istrib ibution map of of Afr frica deri erived ed fr from satell ellit ite e (S (Source: Univ iversity of of Mary ryla land, USA)
Continue • Global charcoal production is expected to continue increasing in the coming decades. The charcoal sector, which is largely informal, generates income for more than 40 million people. • According to a World Bank estimate in the Sub-Saharan Africa charcoal sector alone employs an estimated 7 million people • According to FAO in 2015 Africa had about 624 million hectares have been under forests and estimated 400 million hectares under ‘other wooded lands and other lands with trees”. • About 16 million hectares under forest plantations which was modest in comparison to 129 million hectares for forest plantations in the Asia &Pacific region.
Why it is happening Major drivers of wood fuel consumption include; • Population growth • Rapid urbanization • Poverty • Lack of income growth.
Common str tructure of f a fi firewood su supply chain
Structures of f the charcoal supply chain
Pri rice share for actors per sack of f charcoal in in Kenya
Types of f charcoal kli lins Kiln Type Efficiency (%) Remarks Casamance Kiln (improved earth -Requires capital investment for the chimney 30 mound kiln) -Difficult to construct Brick kilns -Suitable for semi-industrial production -Carbonization of 13-14 days 30 -Cost intensive and stationary Steel kilns -Carbonization after 16-24 days -Cost intensive 27-35 -Promoted as community kilns in Kenya Adam Retort -Noxious emissions reduced by 70% -Carbonization within 24-30 hours 40 -Cost intensive and suitable for semi-industrial use Traditional kiln -Simplest method with no cost -Labor intensive -Charcoal of inconsistent quality and at a very low yield- to- 8-15 feedstock ratio
Why Should be concerned: : Im Impacts of f wood fu fuel • Health Indoor pollution from biomass cooking — a task usually carried out by women — will soon kill more people than malaria and HIV/AIDS combined. • Economic costs More than 40 million worker years are used each year on fuelwood gathering and slow biomass cooking. Cooking with traditional fuels and stoves represents a US$32 billion opportunity cost (3 per cent of SSA GDP). • Forest loss According to FAO Forest Resources Assessment 2015, in Africa net annual forest change between 2010 – 2015 was 2.8 million hectares, however, there is no reliable estimate about how much was due to woodfuel productions. • Climate change An estimated 1 – 2.4 Gt of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO 2 e) in greenhouse gases are emitted annually in the production and use of fuelwood and charcoal, which is 2-7 per cent of global anthropogenic emissions. These emissions are due largely to unsustainable forest management, and inefficient charcoal manufacture and wood fuel combustion. Solid-fuel cooking in SSA accounts for 6 per cent of global black carbon emissions and 1.2 per cent of carbon dioxide emissions.
The health im impacts of f cooking in indoors wit ith woodfu fuels and kerosene
Im Impact of f wood fu fuel on cli limate change • If fuelwood is sustainably procured (i.e. renewable), the CO2 emission from wood is zero, as it is presumed to be reabsorbed into the ecosystem cycle during tree growth. • However, not all fuelwood harvested is renewable, and in fact, the fraction of nonrenewable biomass (fNRB) extracted can vary by huge margins (0%−90%) globally. • However, few systematic studies of wood fuel sustainability and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions have been conducted. The IPCC Fifth Assessment stresses that net emissions from wood fuels are unknown. • Better understanding of the contribution of wood fuels to deforestation, forest degradation and climate change is needed to evaluate the impact of the household energy interventions and inform REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation).
Links between the sustainable woodfuel value chain and food security
The envir ironmental, l, socioeconomic, and healt lth im impacts of woodfuel valu lue chain ins in in Sub-Saharan Afric ica: a systematic map
Policy responses :K :Key recommendations The United Nations Projections show that the population in SSA will grow to 2.5 billion by 2050, from 1.3 billion in 2017. It is projected that by 2050, more than 1.8 billion people (65 per cent) in SSA will still rely on wood fuel for cooking. The transition to cleaner cooking will be hampered by rapid rural population expansion. Grand challenges How to significantly increase the proportion of population with primary reliance on clean fuels and technology
Recommendations (Meeting growing demand of people ) • Increase Production (forest plantations) • Reduce Consumption (efficiency) And Promote alternatives and substitution
Recommendations • Accelerating economic growth • Attracting investment • Investing in innovation and R&D in biomass technologies “ Out of box thinking ” (Clean cook stove ; Bill and Melinda Gate Foundation) • Encouraging promising Policies, incentives, research and capacity building for meeting growing demand of woodfuel
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