Assessment of Solid Woodfuel Situation in Sierra Leone and Burkina Faso

Increasing woodfuel consumption is believed to be one of the key drivers of deforestation and forest degradation in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Unlike in much of the developing world where biomass use has already peaked or will peak in the coming years, consumption in SSA is projected to remain at high levels or even rise in the next decades (World Bank 2011), with the number of people relying on wood-based biomass to grow from 575 to 918 million between 2004 and 2030 (US IEA 2006, 2010, as cited in World Bank 2011). In West Africa, despite of countless initiatives undertaken in recent decades to tackle this issue, woodfuel demand is also expected to continue its growth in the near future. For example, an increment of 34% between 2000 and 2020 has been projected for the region, with a growth in consumption from 175 to 235 million cubic meters (Broadhead et al. 2001, as cited in Ouedraogo 2006). West Africa’s high poverty levels and rapid population growth are some of the driving factors for this increase, which is also modulated by changing demographics (e.g. increasing migration to urban areas) and the fluctuation in oil prices. Technological innovations with regard to renewable energies and in particular bioenergy play also key roles, given the low efficiency of traditional methods for firewood and charcoal (below 30% according to UNDP 2012). Cross-cutting issues such as gender roles in woodfuel collection and sale, health problems, cultural implications of traditional biomass use, or impacts on poverty and livelihoods appear also as vital in understanding the wood energy dynamics in the region.

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