ECOWAS Workshop on Sustainable Wood Energy Management

A workshop on sustainable wood management is being organised by ECREEE in collaboration with the GBEP (Global Bioenergy Partnership) and its partners to provide a forum for sharing knowledge and information on sustainable supply of woody biomass for specific stakeholders. The workshop, which is supported by the Austrian Federal Ministry for Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management (BLMFUW), will be held in Cotonou, Benin from 09 - 11 May 2016 and will provide information and enhance the capacities of relevant actors within the forestry and wood energy value-chain and come out with conclusions and recommendations.

Specific objectives of the workshop are as follow:

• discuss the present state of art with regard to the unsustainable use of wood fuels and how to introduce sustainability in its value chain;
• sensitize and enhance capacities on shifting to and expanding the sustainable use of wood fuels  by incorporating efficient and modern approaches in the entire value chain for other productive sectors of the economy;
• peer-to-peer learning and sharing of positive experiences on successful wood energy projects, including modernization and sustainable production, transformation and utilization for replication; and
• Inform and discuss integration of alternative cooking fuels into national energy policies and strategies, since linkages between clean cooking and sustainable supply of woody biomass are undeniable.

The workshop is being held against the backdrop of high dependency of the region on traditional biomass use for domestic energy supply. The harvesting and use of such biomass is highly unsustainable and has adverse consequences on the health of women and children with resultant degradation of the ecosystem.

It has been realised that for the region to move and promote Clean Cooking Solutions and sustainable biomass use, it is necessary to have a systematic and harmonized approach to the challenges confronting the domestic energy sector.

The workshop aims at achieving the following outputs:

• Participants are sensitized on the present state of art with regard to the unsustainable use of wood fuels;
• Capacities are enhanced on how to introduce sustainability in the value chain of the sector;
• Information on positive experiences on successful wood energy projects are shared with participants;
• Integration of alternative cooking fuels into national energy policies is carried out and strategies emphasizing linkages between clean cooking and sustainable supply of woody biomass are discussed.

Please click here for more information on the event. 

You may also find the registration form here.