The table below lists some of the most important FAO fuelwood projects. Although the programme has grown rapidly, much still remains to be done if the ambitious targets of the Nairobi Plan of Action are to be met. The most important of these is that the annual rate of afforestation for fuelwood in developing countries be increased by a factor of five by the end of the century. This is an absolute minimum: the needs of many of the rural poor will not be met unless afforestation proceeds even faster. In addition, a massive complementary effort is needed to manage existing resources, and to increase the efficiency with which fuelwood is used.
A specific programme to achieve these objectives was outlined at a meeting of the UN Interim Committee on New and Renewable Sources of Energy, held in Rome in June 1982. The most important objective in the fuelwood programme was identified as helping the developing countries execute their national fuelwood programmes.
Some FAO Wood for Energy projects
|
Country |
Funding Source |
Value ($1000) |
Duration |
Type of project |
|
Bangladesh |
United Nations Development Programme |
692.4 |
5 years |
analysis of supply and demand for fuelwood |
|
Bangladesh |
United Nations Development Programme |
2035 |
3 years |
community forestry for fuelwood |
|
Bangladesh |
United Nations Development Programme |
1223 |
3 years |
institution building for fuelwood plantations |
|
Burma* |
|
4343.7 |
5 years |
development of national fuelwood programme |
|
Cape Verde |
Belgium |
4870 |
6.5 years |
reforestation |
|
Ethiopia |
Norway |
400 |
2 years |
support for fuelwood programmes |
|
Ethiopia |
Technical Cooperation Programme |
111.5 |
6 months |
develop appropriate techniques for community forestry |
|
Honduras |
United Nations Fund for Science and Technology |
381.2 |
2 years |
wood for energy; oil substitution |
|
Honduras* |
|
3453.2 |
4 years |
afforestation for energy |
|
India |
Sweden |
126.5 |
1.5 years |
evaluation of social forestry in Gujarat |
|
Kenya |
Australia |
318.6 |
1.5 years |
afforestation; wood for energy; demonstration |
|
Mali |
Technical Cooperation Programme |
30 |
1 year |
nurseries for village woodlots |
|
Mozambique |
Sweden |
2321.8 |
6 years |
afforestation for fuelwood and charcoal for towns |
|
Nepal |
United Nations Development Programme |
1967.7 |
5 years |
fuelwood and fodder for hill communities |
|
Nicaragua |
Sweden |
130 |
1 year |
development of fuelwood plantations |
|
Nicaragua* |
|
4000 |
3 years |
forestry for energy and rural development |
|
Niger |
Sweden |
110.9 |
2 years |
formulation of programme on forestry for rural development |
|
Niger* |
|
1646.4 |
3 years |
development of community forestry, including wood for energy |
|
Peru |
Netherlands |
4940.3 |
5 years |
afforestation for rural development and energy |
|
Senegal |
Finland |
215 |
2 years |
afforestation for rural development and energy |
|
Senegal |
Sweden |
1414.4 |
3 years |
village woodlots in Louga |
|
Senegal |
Sweden |
1357.4 |
3 years |
village woodlots in Bakel |
|
Senegal |
United Nations Decade for Women |
136.0 |
1.5 years |
trials of woodstoves in cooperation with women |
|
Sudan |
United Nations Sudano- Sahelian Office |
- |
- |
community forestry for shelter, environment control and energy |
|
Sudan |
Netherlands |
4468.7 |
4 years |
management of existing forests, tree planting, charcoal and stoves |
|
Tanzania |
Sweden |
83.4 |
2 months |
support for village afforestation |
|
Thailand |
United Nations Development Programme |
1087.5 |
4 years |
forestry for rural development and energy |
|
Upper Volta |
Sweden |
132.5 |
1 year |
conceive local community forestry project |
|
Upper Volta |
Italy |
1055.3 |
3 years |
fuelwood plantations |
|
Asia Pacific Region* |
|
1950 |
4 years |
regional wood energy development programme (technical cooperation among developing countries) |
* 'pipeline' projects still awaiting definitive funding
The developing countries, particularly the 25 most seriously affected, need urgent help in assessing their resources and needs, formulating policy and identifying priorities; in research and development; in training forestry personnel and extension agents; in strengthening forestry institutions to enable them to tackle fuelwood issues; in identifying possible fuelwood substitutes; in setting up pilot and demonstration projects; and in evaluating the financial implications of large projects.
In FAO's experience, providing adequate support for an average national fuelwood programme means spending $5-6 million over three to four years, though costs obviously vary from country to country. Adequate assistance for the 25 most seriously affected countries therefore requires a programme worth about $130 million. A programme to help just five countries over an initial three-year phase would cost $22.6 million.
The Rome meeting identified a number of other important, though less costly, requirements. More research is needed on wood energy in three different terrains: arid and semi-arid areas, mountainous areas and densely populated plains. This was estimated to cost $9 million. Regional fuelwood training programmes were estimated to cost $1.5 million for each region ($6 million for the four regions). A further $4 million is needed to stimulate action in the general area of wood for development, mainly for projects on gasifiers and wood-powered rural industries.
The cost of all these programmes is thus in the region of $150 million. These resources are additional to those which were in existence at the time of the UN Conference on New and Renewable Energy Sources. It is FAO's responsibility, as the lead agency on wood energy within the United Nations system, to help generate these resources and to provide the technical assistance needed to conduct the projects which arise from them. In this way it should be possible both to contain the human, environmental and social costs of fuelwood scarcity and to lay the foundations for development paths which are based on the most important of all the renewable resources: wood.
