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Role of forest biomass energy in developing countries
WREC 1996
ROLE OF FOREST BIOMASS
ENERGY IN DEVELOPING
COUNTRIES
M.A. Sattar Bangladesh Forest Research Institute P.O.Box 273, Chittagong 4UO0, Bangladesh
ABSTRACT Forest biomass holds a significant position for energy production in developing countries. Its importance is elucidated through various activities performed by the rural industries. The socioeconomic and envitonmental aspects in utilizing this type of energy am also discussed. KEYWORDS Forest biomass; renewable energy; woodfuel; rural industries; socio-economic aspect; environmental aspect INTRODUCTION Energy is indispensable for development. It increases the quantity and quality of production and helps elevate the life style of the people. Thus the human civilization owes much to the use of energy in some form or other. Wood has been used as a source of energy since time immemorable. It has not lost its significance even with the availability of commercial fuels like, oil, gas, coal and electricity, particularly in the developing countries. In the rural sector where about 80% of the total population lives, there is hardly any commercial fuel except for some use of electricity or kerosine for lighting. Traditional fuel comprising forest biomass, crop residues, plant wastes and animal excretes, is the major energy used in rural areas. In the urban areas as well, the majority of the population relies on the traditional fuel in the developing countries. The global reserve of fossil fuels is depleting fast. It is apprehended that the present stock may last for about 50 years only. Due to this and a general awareness of the ecological consequences of the fossil fuels, attention is being diverted towards alternative sources of energy. Forest biomass holds the maximum potential for the future in the developing countries. ENERGY CONSUMPTION The total energy consumption both in developed and developing countries is shown in Table 1. It is seen that only 23% of the total conventional energy is utilised by the developing countries with 76% of the world population. The developed countries with 24% of the total population consume the rest of 77% of the total world conventional energy. The per capita consumption of energy is very low in developing countries compared to that in developed countries. It is expected to increase with the improvement of the living standard of the population in the developing countries.
966
WREC 1996 Table 1. Comparison of consumption of fuelwood and commercial energy in 1986 (Anon 1986) Populatton
billion
equivalent of fuelwood
Conventtonal energy consumption
TTJ
TTJ
(%)
Energy
(%)
(%)
buelwood zonsumption Jver total energy zonsumption (%)
Developing market economy
11,361 (72)
38,987
(14)
22.50
Developing central planning
1,940
(12)
23,784
(9)
7.50
Developing total
3.8 (76)
13,301 (84)
62,771
(23)
17.50
Developed countries World
1.2 (24)
2,471
21,074
(77)
1.15
5.0 (loo)
15,772 (100)
273,523
(100)
18.65
(16)
IMPORTANCE OF FOREST BIOMASS Biomass energy plays a significant role in the energy needs of the developing countries particularly in the rural areas. Among the biomass, forest biomass includes tree components which are stem, branch, foliage and root. Fuelwood means the use of stem only. The forest residues alone account for about 50% of the total biomass. Most of these are currently left in the forest to rot due to mainly high transportation cost. The use of fuelwood in the developing countries varies from one country to other. The estimated consumption of fuelwood and charcoal is shown in Table 2. From this table the available estimates of some developing countries show that two types of traditional fuels like fuelwood and charcoal constitute 57.0% of the total energy in Asia, 82.0% in Africa, 66.5% in Central America and 35.0% in South America. However, the energy balances of the individual countries indicate that the proportion of fuelwood and charcoal consumption ranges from 13% to 97%. ROLE OF FOREST BIOMASS Forest biomass is used for the production of energy in some form or other. Its role can be judged through the description of its various end-users. The following are the main end-users under the individual category of industries which need the thermal use of this type of fuel: Food processing - cooking - baking - confectionery - dairy product - fish drying - sweet meat - noodle making
Agro-processing - paddy parboiling - tea leaf curing - tobacco curing - spices drying - rubber sheet drying - Cocoa drying - Coffee roasting
Metal making - black smithy - jewellery - foundry
Miscellaneous - road tarring - soap making - salt making
967
Clay based - brick making - pottery making - lime manufacturing - tile making
- laundry - tire retreading - hotel, restaurant, etc.
WRIT 1996 Table 2. Cqnsumption of fulwood and charcoal in some developing counstries (Anon 1988, 1992)
I
Region
Country
Asia
Africa
Central America
South America
Total energy consumption by fuelwood and charcoal (%)
Bangladesh Bhutan India Indonesia Mynmar Nepal Sri Lnaka Viemam
Average consumption region (C)
by
57.0
62 88 92 91
Angola Benin Burkina Faso Chad Central Africa Repul Ethiopia Senegal El Salvador Guatemala Haiti Hondurus
82.0
66.5
Brazil Chile Paraguay Uruguay
35.0
All these activities are more or less confined to the villages or near the vicinity of the villages. These rural industrial activities can be grouped into three categories, viz., small scale cottage activities, medium scale village enterprise and large scale industtis. The activities of individual category are as follows: Cottage Activities Typical cottage activities are food and agro-processing which include cooking, baking paddy parboiling, noodle making, fish drying, preservation of fruit and vegetable, spice drying, coffee roasting, etc. These activities are of particularly importance to women who usually tend to both and manage them. This is due to the fact that much of the processing actually takes place within or very close to the household itself. It is also closely related to food preparation for domestic consumption. The exact amount of forest biomass used by this sector is not known, but it is likely to be considerable. It is estimated that the cottage industry accounts for about 25% of fuelwood in many areas (Bume 1986). Village Enterprise Typical medium-scale village processing activities include bakery, brewery, dairy, restaurant, black-smithing, pottery, lime processing, road tarring and brick manufacturing. There is significant difference between household level processing and village enterprise. The village enterprise may be owned by a group of people, an extended family, a cooperative or an enterpreneur who employs others. Processing usually takes place in a site away from the household. The manager is usually a man, and the fuel is normally wood. The capital investment is higher and the operation is often run on a more continuous basis. There is no reliable statistics for the consumption of fuelwood in this sector. It is, however, assumed that a considerable amount totalling more than 50% of fuelwood is consumed by this sector (Anon 1992). 968
WREC 1996 Rural Industry It is not easy to make a very clear distinction between village enterprise and rural industry. In addition to the scale of oroduction. other characteristics of the rural industrv are more or less regular production, formal activity, employed labour on contact basis, higher level of process technology and a relatively good fuel flexibility. This category includes the processing of typical such ca& crops as tobacco, tea, coffee, cocoa, copra and rubber. These are important export products with a high impact on the national economy of many developing countries. SOCIO-ECONOMIC ASPECT Information on the socio-economic aspect of domestic and industrial utilization of forest biomass is limited. The available data are scattered and least quantified. So, it is difficult to assess its full impact. However an indication of its role is given below. Forest biomass consumption, as mentioned earlier, involves the activities of small-scale to largescale rural industries. These industres, undoubtedly play an important role in processing and use of local raw materials. These provide full or part-time employment to numerous people in the rural areas. The economic importance of these activities is enormous to the national economy. Food and agro-based activities are taken care of by women since these can be combined with other activities. In Nepal, 13% of the total income comes from food preparation and processing, while in the Philippine city of Iloilo, 50% of the household expenditure is spent on street foods. In the Dangbe district of Ghana, 69% women prepare food or drinks for sale. In Burkino Faso, 70% of women engage in food processing with a high energy input. Many Asian women undertake small-scale paddy parboiling outside the mills for cash generation (Gordon 1986). In many cases, these, activities provide the opportunity for women to earn cash outside the control of their husbands. It may contribute to better health and education of the children. Domestic cooking is a major consumer of the forest biomass. Its consumption far exceeds that of the rural industrial sector. Women are solely involved in this activity. In the poorer section of the rural areas, the collection of tree biomass is performed by women, sometimes assisted by children. Though it is done free of cost and helps ease the economic burden on their very lean income, it has some undesirable consequences. Women get less time for their other important functions like child rearing, cooking and horticulture/agriculture. These affect the nutrition and health of the entire family. ENVIRONMENTAL ASPECT An environmental issue may be raised for the use of forest biomass as a fuel. At the beginning of 1980s fuelwood utilization was considered the main factor for environemtnal degradation in the developing countries. The destruction of fragile forest resource has led to desertification in these countries. It is now held that other factors than fuelwood pressure alone might be the main cause responsible for desertification urocess. The main factors are land clearine for aericultural purpose, over-grazing, change in’cropping pattern, erosion and impaired soil &ucturg, pressure from other uses of wood, fuelwood consumption and lack of proper reforestation(Trosserol992). The indiscriminate deforestation without due consideration to its sustainability combined with soil erosion and fertility has led to desettification in some developing countries. Wood releases carbon dioxide when it is burnt for the production of heat energy as does the fossil fuel. But the release of carbon dioxide is balanced by the quantity taken up whilst the tree crows. So, wood may be considered as a greenhouse nutural fuel. It contians low-in sulohur com&ed to fossil fuels. Unlike commmerciai fuels, it is essentially a renewable source’of energy. It is percieved that the intensive harvesting of an increased pronortion of the forest biomass is the cause for nutrient depletion and possibly soil compaction. There have been some investigations on this aspect. No conclusive evidence of this risk has been found. In forestry for fuelwood, the nutrient removed at harvest should be returned in the form of fertilizers (Mitchel 1992). Further this type of short-rotation forestry has the added advantage in that it can be used as a biological filter for cleaning nitrate-contaminated ground and disposal of sewage sludge.
969
WFtEC1996 CONCLUSION Forest biomass, particularly wood, is a good source of energy by all standards. It is contributing significantly to the national economy. Unfortunately, there is an acute short supply of this resource in manv develonina countries. It calls for more concerted efforts to augment the suo~lv by intensifying the energy t&e plantation. At the same time, due attention should be given m ihk energy conservation since rural industries, in general, operate with low efficiency and technical level. There is considerable scope for improvement in this respect. By improving the performance of heat generating system, as a whole, forest biomass consumption can be reduced to a large extent. This will help ameliorate the supply position of this resource. Both these strategies are needed to ensure sustained supply of forest biomass energy in the developing countries. REFERRENCES Anon. (1986a). FAO yearbook of forest products. Food and Agriculture Organizations of the United Nations, Rome. Anon. (1988). FAO Forestry yearbook. Food and Agriculture Organizations of the United Nations, Rome. Anon. (1992). Wood energy. Forestry Master Plan. Ministry of Environment and Forest, Government of Bangladesh, 48 pp. Bume, S. (1986). Rural industry and the commercialisation of biomass, ITDG, Rugby. Gordon, J. (1986). Biomass energy devices for income generation of the household or community level. ITDG, Rugby. Mitchel, C.P. (1992). Development in the production and supply of wood for energy. In: 2nd World Renewable Energy Congress, Reading, UK: 1256-1264. Trossero, M.A. (1992). The role of forest biomass for energy production. In: 2nd World Renewable Energy Congress, Reading, UK: 1227-1237.
970
ROLE OF FOREST BIOMASS
ENERGY IN DEVELOPING
COUNTRIES
M.A. Sattar Bangladesh Forest Research Institute P.O.Box 273, Chittagong 4UO0, Bangladesh
ABSTRACT Forest biomass holds a significant position for energy production in developing countries. Its importance is elucidated through various activities performed by the rural industries. The socioeconomic and envitonmental aspects in utilizing this type of energy am also discussed. KEYWORDS Forest biomass; renewable energy; woodfuel; rural industries; socio-economic aspect; environmental aspect INTRODUCTION Energy is indispensable for development. It increases the quantity and quality of production and helps elevate the life style of the people. Thus the human civilization owes much to the use of energy in some form or other. Wood has been used as a source of energy since time immemorable. It has not lost its significance even with the availability of commercial fuels like, oil, gas, coal and electricity, particularly in the developing countries. In the rural sector where about 80% of the total population lives, there is hardly any commercial fuel except for some use of electricity or kerosine for lighting. Traditional fuel comprising forest biomass, crop residues, plant wastes and animal excretes, is the major energy used in rural areas. In the urban areas as well, the majority of the population relies on the traditional fuel in the developing countries. The global reserve of fossil fuels is depleting fast. It is apprehended that the present stock may last for about 50 years only. Due to this and a general awareness of the ecological consequences of the fossil fuels, attention is being diverted towards alternative sources of energy. Forest biomass holds the maximum potential for the future in the developing countries. ENERGY CONSUMPTION The total energy consumption both in developed and developing countries is shown in Table 1. It is seen that only 23% of the total conventional energy is utilised by the developing countries with 76% of the world population. The developed countries with 24% of the total population consume the rest of 77% of the total world conventional energy. The per capita consumption of energy is very low in developing countries compared to that in developed countries. It is expected to increase with the improvement of the living standard of the population in the developing countries.
966
WREC 1996 Table 1. Comparison of consumption of fuelwood and commercial energy in 1986 (Anon 1986) Populatton
billion
equivalent of fuelwood
Conventtonal energy consumption
TTJ
TTJ
(%)
Energy
(%)
(%)
buelwood zonsumption Jver total energy zonsumption (%)
Developing market economy
11,361 (72)
38,987
(14)
22.50
Developing central planning
1,940
(12)
23,784
(9)
7.50
Developing total
3.8 (76)
13,301 (84)
62,771
(23)
17.50
Developed countries World
1.2 (24)
2,471
21,074
(77)
1.15
5.0 (loo)
15,772 (100)
273,523
(100)
18.65
(16)
IMPORTANCE OF FOREST BIOMASS Biomass energy plays a significant role in the energy needs of the developing countries particularly in the rural areas. Among the biomass, forest biomass includes tree components which are stem, branch, foliage and root. Fuelwood means the use of stem only. The forest residues alone account for about 50% of the total biomass. Most of these are currently left in the forest to rot due to mainly high transportation cost. The use of fuelwood in the developing countries varies from one country to other. The estimated consumption of fuelwood and charcoal is shown in Table 2. From this table the available estimates of some developing countries show that two types of traditional fuels like fuelwood and charcoal constitute 57.0% of the total energy in Asia, 82.0% in Africa, 66.5% in Central America and 35.0% in South America. However, the energy balances of the individual countries indicate that the proportion of fuelwood and charcoal consumption ranges from 13% to 97%. ROLE OF FOREST BIOMASS Forest biomass is used for the production of energy in some form or other. Its role can be judged through the description of its various end-users. The following are the main end-users under the individual category of industries which need the thermal use of this type of fuel: Food processing - cooking - baking - confectionery - dairy product - fish drying - sweet meat - noodle making
Agro-processing - paddy parboiling - tea leaf curing - tobacco curing - spices drying - rubber sheet drying - Cocoa drying - Coffee roasting
Metal making - black smithy - jewellery - foundry
Miscellaneous - road tarring - soap making - salt making
967
Clay based - brick making - pottery making - lime manufacturing - tile making
- laundry - tire retreading - hotel, restaurant, etc.
WRIT 1996 Table 2. Cqnsumption of fulwood and charcoal in some developing counstries (Anon 1988, 1992)
I
Region
Country
Asia
Africa
Central America
South America
Total energy consumption by fuelwood and charcoal (%)
Bangladesh Bhutan India Indonesia Mynmar Nepal Sri Lnaka Viemam
Average consumption region (C)
by
57.0
62 88 92 91
Angola Benin Burkina Faso Chad Central Africa Repul Ethiopia Senegal El Salvador Guatemala Haiti Hondurus
82.0
66.5
Brazil Chile Paraguay Uruguay
35.0
All these activities are more or less confined to the villages or near the vicinity of the villages. These rural industrial activities can be grouped into three categories, viz., small scale cottage activities, medium scale village enterprise and large scale industtis. The activities of individual category are as follows: Cottage Activities Typical cottage activities are food and agro-processing which include cooking, baking paddy parboiling, noodle making, fish drying, preservation of fruit and vegetable, spice drying, coffee roasting, etc. These activities are of particularly importance to women who usually tend to both and manage them. This is due to the fact that much of the processing actually takes place within or very close to the household itself. It is also closely related to food preparation for domestic consumption. The exact amount of forest biomass used by this sector is not known, but it is likely to be considerable. It is estimated that the cottage industry accounts for about 25% of fuelwood in many areas (Bume 1986). Village Enterprise Typical medium-scale village processing activities include bakery, brewery, dairy, restaurant, black-smithing, pottery, lime processing, road tarring and brick manufacturing. There is significant difference between household level processing and village enterprise. The village enterprise may be owned by a group of people, an extended family, a cooperative or an enterpreneur who employs others. Processing usually takes place in a site away from the household. The manager is usually a man, and the fuel is normally wood. The capital investment is higher and the operation is often run on a more continuous basis. There is no reliable statistics for the consumption of fuelwood in this sector. It is, however, assumed that a considerable amount totalling more than 50% of fuelwood is consumed by this sector (Anon 1992). 968
WREC 1996 Rural Industry It is not easy to make a very clear distinction between village enterprise and rural industry. In addition to the scale of oroduction. other characteristics of the rural industrv are more or less regular production, formal activity, employed labour on contact basis, higher level of process technology and a relatively good fuel flexibility. This category includes the processing of typical such ca& crops as tobacco, tea, coffee, cocoa, copra and rubber. These are important export products with a high impact on the national economy of many developing countries. SOCIO-ECONOMIC ASPECT Information on the socio-economic aspect of domestic and industrial utilization of forest biomass is limited. The available data are scattered and least quantified. So, it is difficult to assess its full impact. However an indication of its role is given below. Forest biomass consumption, as mentioned earlier, involves the activities of small-scale to largescale rural industries. These industres, undoubtedly play an important role in processing and use of local raw materials. These provide full or part-time employment to numerous people in the rural areas. The economic importance of these activities is enormous to the national economy. Food and agro-based activities are taken care of by women since these can be combined with other activities. In Nepal, 13% of the total income comes from food preparation and processing, while in the Philippine city of Iloilo, 50% of the household expenditure is spent on street foods. In the Dangbe district of Ghana, 69% women prepare food or drinks for sale. In Burkino Faso, 70% of women engage in food processing with a high energy input. Many Asian women undertake small-scale paddy parboiling outside the mills for cash generation (Gordon 1986). In many cases, these, activities provide the opportunity for women to earn cash outside the control of their husbands. It may contribute to better health and education of the children. Domestic cooking is a major consumer of the forest biomass. Its consumption far exceeds that of the rural industrial sector. Women are solely involved in this activity. In the poorer section of the rural areas, the collection of tree biomass is performed by women, sometimes assisted by children. Though it is done free of cost and helps ease the economic burden on their very lean income, it has some undesirable consequences. Women get less time for their other important functions like child rearing, cooking and horticulture/agriculture. These affect the nutrition and health of the entire family. ENVIRONMENTAL ASPECT An environmental issue may be raised for the use of forest biomass as a fuel. At the beginning of 1980s fuelwood utilization was considered the main factor for environemtnal degradation in the developing countries. The destruction of fragile forest resource has led to desertification in these countries. It is now held that other factors than fuelwood pressure alone might be the main cause responsible for desertification urocess. The main factors are land clearine for aericultural purpose, over-grazing, change in’cropping pattern, erosion and impaired soil &ucturg, pressure from other uses of wood, fuelwood consumption and lack of proper reforestation(Trosserol992). The indiscriminate deforestation without due consideration to its sustainability combined with soil erosion and fertility has led to desettification in some developing countries. Wood releases carbon dioxide when it is burnt for the production of heat energy as does the fossil fuel. But the release of carbon dioxide is balanced by the quantity taken up whilst the tree crows. So, wood may be considered as a greenhouse nutural fuel. It contians low-in sulohur com&ed to fossil fuels. Unlike commmerciai fuels, it is essentially a renewable source’of energy. It is percieved that the intensive harvesting of an increased pronortion of the forest biomass is the cause for nutrient depletion and possibly soil compaction. There have been some investigations on this aspect. No conclusive evidence of this risk has been found. In forestry for fuelwood, the nutrient removed at harvest should be returned in the form of fertilizers (Mitchel 1992). Further this type of short-rotation forestry has the added advantage in that it can be used as a biological filter for cleaning nitrate-contaminated ground and disposal of sewage sludge.
969
WFtEC1996 CONCLUSION Forest biomass, particularly wood, is a good source of energy by all standards. It is contributing significantly to the national economy. Unfortunately, there is an acute short supply of this resource in manv develonina countries. It calls for more concerted efforts to augment the suo~lv by intensifying the energy t&e plantation. At the same time, due attention should be given m ihk energy conservation since rural industries, in general, operate with low efficiency and technical level. There is considerable scope for improvement in this respect. By improving the performance of heat generating system, as a whole, forest biomass consumption can be reduced to a large extent. This will help ameliorate the supply position of this resource. Both these strategies are needed to ensure sustained supply of forest biomass energy in the developing countries. REFERRENCES Anon. (1986a). FAO yearbook of forest products. Food and Agriculture Organizations of the United Nations, Rome. Anon. (1988). FAO Forestry yearbook. Food and Agriculture Organizations of the United Nations, Rome. Anon. (1992). Wood energy. Forestry Master Plan. Ministry of Environment and Forest, Government of Bangladesh, 48 pp. Bume, S. (1986). Rural industry and the commercialisation of biomass, ITDG, Rugby. Gordon, J. (1986). Biomass energy devices for income generation of the household or community level. ITDG, Rugby. Mitchel, C.P. (1992). Development in the production and supply of wood for energy. In: 2nd World Renewable Energy Congress, Reading, UK: 1256-1264. Trossero, M.A. (1992). The role of forest biomass for energy production. In: 2nd World Renewable Energy Congress, Reading, UK: 1227-1237.
970