IEA warns that heavy reliance on traditional sources of fuel because of lack of access to electricity, puts a risk to forest stock.
It estimates that demand for biomass energy will rise by 40 per cent in 2040, representing about 650 million people in the region who will be relying on the resources for cooking and lighting homes.
“Four out of five people in sub-Saharan Africa rely on use of solid biomass for cooking. A rise in demand for bioenergy strains on forestry with efforts to promote more sustainable wood production hindered by the operation of much of the fuelwood and charcoal supply chain outside the formal economy,” notes the report.
The rate of population growth in Sub-Saharan Africa has outpaced efforts to promote electrification, slowing down social and economic development in the region.
The Africa Energy outlook report for 2014 released by the France-based International Energy Agency also shows that only 290 million out of the total 915 million people living in the region have access to electricity, although investment in new energy supply is on the rise.
