BIOMASS ENERGY IN THE THIRD WORLD | By Phil O’Keefe, John Soussan and Donna Pankhurst | Part 1

BIOMASS ENERGY IN THE THIRD WORLD | By Phil O’Keefe, John Soussan and Donna Pankhurst | Part 1

Only in the last decade has the role of biomass in Third World energy budgets been fully recognized. Despite this recognition, estimates of both the production and consumption of biomass remain crude. On a global scale, biomass accounts for some 15 per cent of total enery consumption. In contrast, the cumulative share of hydropower and nuclear power is six times smaller. In developing countries biomass is the predominant fuel even accounting for 43 per cent of total energy consumption. And for the poor in developing countries, biomass remains the predominant fuel even if the problems of acquiring the fuel are increasingly acute. Biomass is a composite energy category that includes wood as well as crop and animal residues. In theory, these resources are renewable but, with continued environmental degradation, regeneration is increasingly difficult to sustain. In many developing countries, over 90 per cent of domestic energy is supplied by wood and residues. FAO estimate that, by the year 2000, over 25.5 billion Third World people will be using fuelwood faster than it is being replenished. Wood will have ceased to be a renewable resource. Six regions of the world are particularly beset with a biomasss-poor future. These include: the semi-arid region south of the Sahara; eastern and southern Africa; the African lands; the Himalayan region of Asia; the Andean Plateau; and Central America and the Caribbean. With the exception of the last area, where particular problems of island development arise, the other regions are notable for poverty. Biomass is the poor family’s fuel. Poor people cannot afford alternatives. Biomass remains the major fuel even where wood resources are rapidly disappearing. In Burkina Faso (formerly Upper Volta) and other Sahel countries, over 95 per cent of all energy is wood-based. Similar figures hold true for eastern and southern Africa. In Ethiopia, over 98 per cent of all energy consumed is biomass-based; in Kenya, 70 per cent. Even in Zimbabwe, the most developed of independent, sub-Saharan economies, over 45 per cent of national energy consumption is biomass-based. In these areas, people cut trees because they must find fuel. Simple programmes of reforestation would not work even if money was available to support such efforts. In analyzing the problem, in more detail, one can begin to outline a strategy for energy development in the poorer Third World countries. The forest resource is not only the energy of the people. Biomass, in general, includes all micro-organisms, plants and animals. Unfortunately, biomass cannot be simply viewed as an energy resource. In the Third World, biomass provides food, shelter, clothing, medicine and raw materials fop industry in addition to providing fuel for cooking, heating and lighting. The incorporation of biomass into soil enhances both its physical and chemical characteristics and maintains productivity. Additionally, biomass in its vegetative form provides cover and lessens soil erosion. Biomass is not simply just another energy resource.