4. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Presently, there is no official restriction on fuel wood imports. However, statistics should be kept at border entry points.

The transfer of management responsibility of Forest Resources to the local community will be the only way to sustain fuel wood production and supply to the urban centres.

Long monitoring of fuel wood transport into the GBA should be carried out by means of an annual survey and the long term trends in domestic fuel wood and butane consumption should also be monitored by annual consumption to establish precise data base.

Harvest of green trees for woodfuel should be permitted in zones that have been brought under community management under the provisions of agreed management plans the provisions of agreed management plans between the communities and the Forestry Department.

The Government of the Gambia should continue to promote and encourage popular use of affordable alternatives for energy in urban areas to bridge the gap between the demand and what the forest can sustainably supply.

In the medium and long terms, Gambia’s demand for fuelwood must be augmented by using alternative energy resources (e.g. butane gas, solar energy, etc.), or establishing a fuelwood plantation. This has already started. The EU has financed a project on the introduction of butane gas in the urban areas. In addition, some community fuelwood lots were planted since early 1980.