This report outlines the approach for World Bank’s engagement in forests, trees, and woodlands on farms in sub-Saharan Africa for the period of 2012-2016.

One of the seven major themes of the Action Plan is sustainable production and value chain development for fuelwood and charcoal industries. Programs to address this problem would involve clarification of rights and responsibilities for forest management and production, incentives for reforestation, alignment of charcoal quotas with local incentives, transport management and monitoring, and market regulations, as well as incentives for adoption of more efficient charcoal processing methods and improved cook stoves.

It stated that around the major cities fuelwood and charcoal are major industries but also a major source of forest and woodland degradation, and so targeted approaches to address these needs are a priority. Wood energy is explicitly mentioned in sub-regional priorities, e.g.  

Sahel region - Scaling up community-based agro-forestry and community-based forest and woodland management approaches to meet growing demands for biomass energy (fuelwood) and fodder.

Central Africa - Support for sustainable wood energy production and management around the major cities, especially plantations around major urban areas in D.R. Congo, Republic of Congo, and Northern Cameroon.

Eastern Africa - Development of a package of regulatory, incentive, and support measures for improved biomass energy production, transport and marketing especially in the vicinity of major cities.