FAO in collaboration with governments and partners has undertaken three regional forest sector outlook studies in the Asia-Pacific Region, each in 1998, 2010, and 2019.

The latest study report published in 2019 discussed, among other issues, the woodfuel value chains, the change in woodfuel production in the Asia-Pacific subregions during 1990–2017, and woodfuel for refugee camps.

One of the study findings is that the traditional use of wood as a source of domestic energy is declining rapidly, due largely to increasing incomes, urbanization and substitution with fossil fuels and electricity. There were differences between subregions: woodfuel consumption declined by nearly 40 percent in East Asia between 1990 and 2017, a slight decrease in Southeast Asia, and continued an upward trajectory until 2010 and then declined slightly thereafter to 2017.