Author FAO

Year of publication 2017

Woodfuel contributes to more than half of energy consumption in 22 countries of sub-Saharan Africa, and over two-thirds of the households in Africa use wood as their main fuel for cooking, heating and water boiling.Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) will continue to rely predominantly on woodfuel for energy for the foreseeable future. Governments in the region have tried a range of policies and regulations to avoid the negative impacts of woodfuel sourcing and to accentuate the benefits, from which many lessons can be learned. This policy brief reviews experiences with woodfuel policies and regulations in SSA and presents six main findings for promoting sustainable wood energy.