Woodfuel alternatives can help restore forest landscape and benefit local communities
©© FAO/Luis Tato
With the global population increasing, energy consumption and demand are rising. Transformative energy change is key to global and national sustainable development goals and international pledges such as the Paris Agreement. Still, woodfuel remains the primary source of fuel for 2.3 billion people, and traditional woodfuel use can have negative sustainability impacts, especially on forest landscapes. Modern bioenergy production is a solution to satisfy energy demand while creating ways to restore forest landscapes, which, in turn, provide feedstock to generate bioenergy.
To explore promising practices, FAO hosted the webinar “Alternatives to woodfuel for restoring forest landscapes” on 18 April 2023, within the context of the he Global Bioenergy Partnership (GBEP) project.
The webinar speakers, Dr Himlal Baral, Senior Scientist with CIFOR-ICRA, and Prof David Millar, professor at the Millar Institute for Transdisciplinary and Development Studies, illustrated case studies on alternatives to the unsustainable harvest of woodfuel in Indonesia and Ghana.
Participants learnt how in Indonesia bioenergy production is part of a broader approach to landscape restoration encompassing ecosystem goods and services such as food, energy and materials. Several species of shrubs and trees may be grown on severely degraded or marginal lands and be useful for bioenergy generation. One example is bamboo, the fastest growing tree on Earth and known as ‘carbon sequestrating vegetal steel’, suitable for producing materials as well as bioenergy. In West Sumatra, a power plant uses bamboo planted and harvested by the local community it serves, offering economic opportunities in addition to electricity.
Dr Baral also illustrated the potential of the Pongamia pinnata, a legume that is salt and drought tolerant and pest resistant. The Pongamia pinnata is nitrogen fixing and can be used for multiple products including biodiesel, aviation biofuels and organic fertilizers.
Bio-based electricity generation replaces current fuel production and transportation systems and reduces their costs, while subsidizing local electricity bills, lighting households and generating employment. In addition, biomass may be grown in conjunction with food crops within broader climate-smart agroforestry systems. By-products from bioenergy generation can be beneficial to the environment and the landscape: biochar, for instance, can be put back into the soil for carbon sequestration and storage while improving soil tilth. In this way, modern bioenergy practices give value to every available resource.
Even wild weeds always seen as pests can become a resource. For instance, in Ghana, savannah grass is traditionally considered a nuisance as it leads to frequent wildfires, burning down landscapes and endangering tree species, with detrimental effects on farming and food security. Instead, as Professor Miller explained, briquettes made of such grasses are a sustainable alternative to tree charcoal, while providing similar employment opportunities in addition to sustainable fuel. From a renewable and vast natural resource, markets, employment, goods, and services may be created, resulting in an economically sustainable, ecologically friendly and socially inclusive bioeconomy solution. However, economic viability is a limit, and wood charcoal remains more competitive. Further technological development is required, for which technical support, legislative work and advocacy are fundamental.
Several sustainable alternatives to woodfuel already provide electricity access and socio-economic opportunities to local communities through restoring marginal or degraded lands for bioenergy generation. Such systems offer tremendous benefits for ecosystems and biodiversity. Promoting them requires continuous efforts in research and demonstration, building capacity and engaging local communities to scale up small landscape initiatives to larger agroforestry models.
