Woodfuel Production Options
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Woodfuel originates from a wide range of land-use systems. The manner in which wood for energy use is produced not only depends on climatic conditions and vegetation cover, local demand, infrastructure, but also crucially on land ownership and land-use rights (s. figure).
Further information on wood energy issues can also be found on the recently launched FAO internet site [1]
Forest energy plantations
Planted forests, established through afforestation or reforestation, have a particularly important role to play in providing a renewable and environmentally friendly energy resource if managed responsibly. They can play a very positive role in:
- Providing ecosystem services, such as preventing erosion, protecting soil and water, and storing carbon etc.
- Reducing pressure on natural forests
- Restoring marginal or degraded land
- Providing rural employment and development.
Currently, there are about 109 million hectares of productive forest plantations in the world. Africa accounts for only 10% of the total area[1]
In the past, energy plantations were often ill-designed and suffered from insufficient health, vitality, productivity and lacked return on investment. In addition they were often subject to land use and social conflicts.
Many of the plantations failed due poor management, lack of know-how, and the low commitment of staff in the public forestry services.
With increasing pressure on natural forests, alternative sustainable approaches are needed to keep pace with the growing demand for woodfuel. Rising oil prices keep people from climbing the energy ladder, thus increasing their dependence on woodfuel. Consequently, forest plantations need careful development policies, with public sector dominance giving way to more private sector participation, and integrating with other sectors and approaches, to provide a sufficient supply of woodfuel.
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has coordinated a multi-stakeholder process to balance the social, cultural, environmental and economic dimensions of planted forest management and to support their contribution towards sustainable livelihoods and land use through voluntary guidelines for planted forests. These guidelines are tailored primarily to governments, public- and private-sector investors, policymakers and planners:
(Responsible Management of Planted Forests: Voluntary Guidelines: http://www.fao.org/docrep/009/j9256e/J9256E00.htm)
Generally, the establishment of plantations on pristine or almost pristine forest lands is not recommended. Hardwood species have the greatest potential for woodfuel, and the type selected should preferably coppice readily, they should be varieties that fix nitrogen, and be multi-purpose species. Actual selection depends on what can be grown easily on the site, and be acceptable to the users. Cultivation methods should be adapted to the skills and resources of the rural people. Care in the establishment phase is very important. Every plantation activity should be preceded by an economic analysis. Sustainability can only be assured when the returns on investment are significant for the plantation owner, as well as having positive social and ecological potential. The following excel-based program allows the economic viability of woodfuel plantation programmes to be quickly determined: Guide de l'utilisateur du modèle "Analyse Financière"
Making local people the centre of planning and implementation of woodfuel plantations is a village-based approach in Madagascar adopted by GTZ. Individuals are given the property rights of degraded community land for reforestation. The project provides institutional and technical support, and the soil is initially prepared by tractor before handover. The plantation owner is responsible for raising seedlings, and maintaining the plantation. An overall GIS based monitoring system gives data on each and every plantation plot, including productivity figures, income generated etc. To date (2011), more than 6500 hectares have been planted, providing an increase in income of more than 20% for more than 2000 rural households. The approach is described in the brochure: Le Reboisement villageois individuel. 
Schemes described as ‘outgrower schemes’ are a relatively new development in the African forestry sector in which companies enter into long-term partnerships with small growers. The companies provide financing (loans), and inputs such as seedlings and extension support for the establishment and maintenance of the woodlots. For the companies, these schemes address the need to develop long-term timber/woodfuel supplies without tying up large amounts of capital in land holdings when all they require is wood. The outgrower scheme is described in the following FAO report:
Forestry Out-Grower Schemes: A Global View: http://www.fao.org/docrep/004/AC131E/ac131e00.htm
Further information
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Wood – A source of supply for sustainable energy Published by GIZ-HERA – Poverty-oriented Basic Energy Services |
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| WOODFUEL VALUE CHAINS IN KENYA AND RWANDA Economic analysis of the market oriented woodfuel sector Author: Geoffrey M. Ndegwa (MSc. Thesis, Cologne, September 2010) This research highlights the potential in the woodfuel sector to play a key and significant role in the rural and urban poor economic development of Rwanda and Kenya. |
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Management of natural forests
Management of natural forests is a very complex undertaking in areas where the supply is usually a by-product of more valuable products such as timber, poles etc.
Woodfuel shortages generally occur in regions where savannah-type vegetation is predominant due to low and erratic rainfall patterns. These savannah woodlands are not suited to high-value timber production, although they may make a major contribution to non-timber forest products such as fodder, gums, resins, etc.).
The sustainable management of these savannah woodlands for fuel using this approach is often described as Participatory Forest Management (PFM) or Community based forest (natural resources) management. PFM is a forest management system in which communities (forest users and managers) and government services (forest department) work together to define rights of forest resource use, identify and develop forest management responsibilities, and agree on how forest benefits will be shared. The key challenge is to establish a sustainable forest management approach able to compete in the context of increasing resource demand and land use competition.PFM experienced a particular impetus in the light of the increasing decentralization efforts where management responsibility over (formerly) state-owned forests is increasingly devolved to the local communities. To create a sustainable structure using a PFM approach, and to engage local people to believe and invest in sustainable forest management, issues around land tenure, and the secure transfer of decision-making powers from central government to local institutions, have to be resolved . Recommendations and potential pitfalls around decentralization of natural resources management are described in a publication of the ‘The World Resources Institute’ Democratic Decentralization of Natural Resources: http://pdf.wri.org/ddnr_full_revised.pdf.
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Manuals on Participatory Forest Management The CILSS-based project PREDAS published a manual on community based forest management for woodfuel production for energy. http://www.cilss.bf/predas/publications/Guide%20amenagement%20forestier%20villageois.pdf A field manual explaining the key steps of establishing Participatory Forest Management in Ethiopia has been put together as the result of ten years’ practical experience by FARM-Africa and SOS Sahel Ethiopia. UNHCR published a guide on forest management practices to react on some degree of forest degradation and deforestation in the refugee and returnee context. |
When implementing PFM activities the following features were found to be particularly important when designing and implementing PFM projects for energy supply:
- PFM activities should take place after stakeholder consultation to enhance awareness of the causes and consequences of uncontrolled exploitation and the benefits of available techniques for forest rehabilitation. (Example of an animation tutorial for awareness campaigns: des villages verts. Guide de l'animateur)
- Baseline studies are fundamental tools for assessing success or failure of intended PFM activities. (Example of different tools and techniques to facilitate collection and analysis of information: [http://www.communityforestryinternational.org/publications/field_methods_manual/pra_manual_tools_and_techniques.pdf
- The level of devolution and distribution of power and responsibility by the government services (forest department) to the community requires critical analysis and informed public debate. It depends on the ownership of forest land (public, community or private). Equitable sharing of both costs and benefits within the communities, and between the communities and the government, have to be clearly defined. The results should be recorded as an agreement, providing the basis for PFM activities. (Example of a local agreement: Les conventions locales. Un outil fonctionnel dans la gestion forestière decentralisée)
- Functional institutional frameworks at village level to oversee planning, implementation and monitoring have to be established. Such a local management structure should be governed by the Community or Village Assembly. Clear guidelines have to be developed to specify the responsibilities of each and every member within the local management structure. (Example of the institutional framework of a local management structure: Manuel pour la mise en place des structures locales de gestion (SLG))
- Forest management plans must be simple and short and should be developed through participatory action in a way that is accessible for communities where literacy levels are low. To foster local ‘ownership’ of such a management plan, the contents of the plan must include the knowledge, experience and expectations of the local community about their forest. (General Guideline to establish simple forest management plans: ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/008/j4817e/j4817e00.pdf)
- Example of a manual for simple management plans for woodfuel production in Chad:
Instruction pour l'élaboration des Plans de Gestion Forestière Simplifiés au Niveau des Villages VERTS - In open access areas, sustainable forest management competes with uncontrolled exploitation (where the woodfuel price does not reflect any replacement costs). In these situations, communities investing in sustainable forest management tend to lose their motivation and give up because of lack of incentive. The introduction of a differential tax system is essential to provide a fiscal incentive to firewood traders who access their fuel from sustainably managed forests rather than from the uncontrolled exploitation of natural woodlands. An effective control system has to be put in place to enforce the differential tax system or it fails to work and has no impact.
A good example of successfuel PFM for energy is the introduction of rural woodfuel markets (RWM) in West-Africa. A RWM is a place where woodfuel dealers can buy firewood and charcoal drawn from an area of natural woodland formally delimited and agreed between the villages and the local authorities. This woodland area is managed using a simple plan agreed between the village associations and the local forestry service. It includes: (i) an annual woodfuel quota that stays below the annual production rate (safety margin); and (ii) a set of very simple silvicultural and woodfuel cutting rules. Rural woodfuel markets are run by a local management structure. The CILSS-based EU-supported project PREDAS has published a guide on how to create woodfuel markets.
Guide de création des marchés ruraux
In Ethiopia, a PFM approach called WAJIB has been developed with GTZ support in which a binding agreement is made between the local forest user groups and the district forest office. There are clearly defined rights, duties and obligations for both partners. This approach differs from many other PFM approaches in Africa as the number of participating households is limited by the forest carrying capacity and the economic potential. The underlying assumption is that households will only invest in forestry operations if they can make a living out of sustainable forest management. Thus, the forest in a given village is subdivided into forest blocks with an average size of 360 hectares. Based on the forest carrying capacity of 12 hectares per household, each block is managed by a WAJIB group of not more than 30 households. Each WAJIB group has its own internal regulations (by-laws), which govern the use, protection, rights and responsibilities of each household within the block. The main duty of the forest administration is to provide technical advice to the WAJIB groups on how to develop and utilize the forest on a sustainable basis. The following documents describe the WAJIB approach:
In Southern Africa, the miombo woodlands[2]are the major sources of fuel. These woodlands provide a wide range of products (including timber) and services to rural households, so the forest management approaches need to be very diverse and often embedded in an integrated land use approach. The opportunities and barriers to sustainable management of miombo forests are described in the CIFOR publication "Miombo woodlands - opportunities and barriers to sustainable forest management"2007.
For further information on miombo woodlands, consult the miombo network internet site:
http://www.geog.psu.edu/geclab/miombo/index.html
By harvesting woodfuel, people make an impact on the state of their forests. The impact of these activities on the environment is hard to predict. Ecological monitoring is more and more recognized as a helpful method in natural resource management. The manual Community Based Ecological Monitoring:
(http://www.landcoalition.org/pdf/07_SAFIRE_Community_based_ecological_monitoring_Manual.pdf) which discusses community-based ecological monitoring, gives advice to the practitioner of how to conduct such an activity.
Trees outside forests
Trees outside forests (TOFs) include all trees found on non-forest and non-wooded lands, such as agricultural lands, in urban and settlement areas, along roads, in home gardens, in hedgerows, scattered in the landscape and on pasture and rangelands. Most knowledge on TOFs comes from experience in agroforestry.[3] Agroforestry helps farmers create more integrated, diverse, productive, profitable, healthy and sustainable land-use systems.
Although TOFs fulfil a multipurpose function, and are part of an integrated land-use system, woodfuel can be a main product. The FAO (2001) cites references where in the Asia-Pacific area, over two-thirds of the energy demand is supplied by fuelwood from non-forest sources, providing fuel for two billion people.
Trees for fuelwood can be planted dispersed, in a row, on crop land (alley cropping), in home-gardens, as replacement, or by the introduction of selected trees or shrubs to enhance natural fallow vegetation. To control soil and water erosion, trees and shrubs are planted as living barriers along the contour lines of a slope or terrace. Living fences planted as lines of trees on farm boundaries or on pasture plots, animal enclosures or around agricultural fields can contribute to the energy supply of local households. The Agroforestry extension manual for Kenya provides an excellent overview of the different approaches, illustrated by a number of case reports.
Agroforestry Extension Manual for Kenya:
http://www.worldagroforestry.org/Units/Library/Books/PDFs/06_Agroforestry_extension_manual_for_kenya.pdf?n=141 (1994)
As with forest energy plantations, hardwood species that coppice readily and fix nitrogen should be selected (see Table 6) . They should be fast growing hardwoods which can be harvested after 4-6 years, well-adapted to the site, easy to grow, and resistant to goats and wildlife damage. The World Agroforestry Centre maintains a freely accessible database providing information on the management, use and ecology of a wide range of tree species that can be used for fuelwood in agroforestry.
http://www.worldagroforestry.org/sea/Products/AFDbases/af/index.asp
Lack of accessible fuelwood supplies mainly affects women, and it important to integrate their concerns when designing agroforestry projects. The World Agroforestry Centre published a guide on how to integrate gender issues when programming agroforestry initiatives in the Sahel.
Intégration du genre dans la mise en œuvre d’un programme agroforestier au Sahel : Guide pratique des chercheurs: http://www.worldagroforestry.org/downloads/publications/PDFS/OP14807.pdf
The Sahel Eco-Farm (SEF) approach has been developed with the support of ICRISAT. It is a good example of an agroforestry-based system combining ecological advantages (such as improving microclimate) and soil conditions, with income generation. This approach improves the livelihoods of the rural poor in vulnerable regions such as the Sahel. The SEF is based on an alley cropping system, in which trees and/or shrubs are intercropped with annual crops. Reference: The Sahelian Eco-Farm: http://www.worldwidewattle.com/infogallery/utilisation/sehelian-eco-farm.pdf
A good example of increasing fuelwood supply is by raising trees for fuelwood as part of an system to improve fallow fields through planting nitrogen-fixing trees that can be harvested for fuelwood or charcoal after 3-4 years. In a recent publication of the World Agroforestry Centre on innovative agroforestry approaches, the improved fallow system is described in Chapter 6:
World Agroforestry into the Future: http://www.worldagroforestrycentre.org/downloads/publications/PDFS/b14409.pdf
Enough wood can be obtained from one hectare of improved fallow to supply the fuelwood needs of a typical rural household with 6–7 members for 6–8 months.
Another key initiative is to promote agroforestry approaches at policy level so that they are recognized as one of the most important fuelwood supply resources, besides natural forests and plantations. The socio-economic and ecological advantages of agroforestry substantially outweigh many expensive, ill-conceived tree plantation programmes. Agroforestry can be developed at a fraction of the cost of large-scale plantations, and the approach encourages greater local participation and a wider diversity of goods and services for the local and national economies.
Further Information is provided by following internet sites:
Trees outside forests: http://www.fao.org/forestry/tof/en/
Agroforestry: http://www.worldagroforestry.org
(based on National Academy of Sciences 1980, 1983, Nair 1993, FAO 2000, FFRD, 1994).
[1]FAO,2006, Global Forest Resources Assessment 2005, Forestry Paper No 147, Rome
[2]Tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands
[3]Agroforestry is the practice of growing trees and agricultural products on the same piece of ground, and at the same time.
