Woodfuel

Wood and charcoal provide the major energy resources for most residents of developing countries, especially for cooking and heating. To these people, the real energy crisis is the disappearing sources of inexpensive or free wood for fuel, along with deforestation. The persistence of mass poverty in regions such as sub-Saharan Africa limits access to these resources. Pitfalls in energy sustainability erode gains in the potential for human development and environmental sustenance.

Access to adequate and appropriate energy resources has implications for the economic, social, and ecological dimensions of both local and global development. Energy is a necessary requirement for sustainable development. The commercial energy sector has powered recent gains in global economic growth and has been the main driver in the globalization of the world economy. Nations with a high proportion of modern and conventional fuels in their energy mix, such as those in the global North, tend to have highly advanced economies. Conversely, nations in the South, with a high proportion of traditional fuels, have generally faced complex human development challenges in providing livelihoods and environmental quality. The relationship between energy and economic development is not necessarily direct; however, energy is a critical input in the development framework.

To sustain the existing expanding economies and to accommodate new and potentially high-demand entrants from the developing world, energy supplies need to expand. While global energy supplies are experiencing relatively low or even flattening growth rates, demand levels are escalating. Recent aggressive participation in global energy markets by giant economies with hitherto low demand streams, such as China and India, could [Page 3123]exacerbate this situation. Conservation measures have not made up for the gaps in energy supply. This trend could make many other countries less competitive in global markets for reasonably priced energy resources. While international markets have a robust capacity to balance energy supply and demand levels, adverse supply constraints could stretch the resilience of the system beyond the normal efficient allocation mechanisms. The looming threat of global climate change adds a new urgency for policymakers to broaden the range of energy strategies to include sources that were previously discounted, including woodfuel.

Woodfuel has been perceived to play a minimal role in models of modern socioeconomic development, but this is simply a world economic view. Regionally, wood caters to the needs of the majority of the rural population in developing nations. The sizable urban population there also depends on woodfuel, especially charcoal; and electric power supplies are erratic, overpriced, and nonexistent in large sections of the ever-expanding spontaneous settlements. Furthermore, cheap alternatives such as liquefied petroleum gas are not easily accessible, and substandard equipment and inadequate safeguards make them potential hazards in the crammed living spaces of slums.

In the developed world, only a relatively small amount of both value-added and raw wood is used to generate electricity. It is still used for limited-space heating in the northern regions and may even provide fuel for gourmet cooking. Wood is by no means the primary source of energy, and the vast majority of the population does not use it directly since cheap commercial fuels are readily available.

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