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

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.