Forestry Communication Toolkit

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Energy

Key messages

Wood provides the world with more energy than solar, hydroelectric or wind power, accounting for roughly 40 percent of current global renewable energy supply. It plays an important role in both developing and in some industrialized countries.
About 50 percent of global wood production (around 1.86 billion cubic meters) is used as energy for cooking, heating, and electricity generation. For 2.4 billion people, woodfuel means a cooked and more nutritious meal, boiled water, and a warm dwelling.
Approximately 883 million people in developing countries are employed in the wood energy sector on a full or part-time basis.
Modernizing the wood energy sector can help revitalize rural economies and stimulate enterprise development – greater investment in wood energy production and advanced wood fuels can provide revenue to finance better forest management, more growing forests and more jobs.
Strategically placed trees in urban areas can cool the air by between 2-8 degrees C.
Globally, forests hold an energy content approximately 10 times that of the world’s annual primary energy consumption. They thus have significant potential as renewable resources to meet global energy demand.
Greater investment in technological innovation and in sustainably managed forests is the key to increasing forests’ role as a major source of renewable energy. In this way, we invest in our sustainable future, in meeting several Sustainable Development Goals and in growing a green economy.
Increased areas of sustainably managed household and community woodlots and the use of clean and efficient wood stoves can give millions more people in developing countries access to cheap, reliable and renewable energy.

Videos

Grass charcoal production in Ghana

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More videos

Publications

Issue brief: Forests, energy and livelihoods

More integrated approaches between forests, energy and livelihoods can accelerate progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals, according to a joint brief published by the UN Forum on Forests Secretariat, FAO, the International Union of Forest Research Organizations and the United Nations Development Programme. The brief sets out an overview of global trends on forests, energy and livelihoods and how they are connected. [more]

Are policies in Africa conducive to sustainability interventions in the charcoal sector?

This publication presents the key findings from a preliminary assessment of the policies of African countries relevant to charcoal value chains. The main objective of this study is to assess the extent to which national energy and environmental policies and strategies in Africa have the potential to provide enabling conditions for sustainability interventions in the charcoal sector. [more]

More publications

Press releases

Innovative grass charcoal fuels opportunity in Ghana

A new charcoal production method aims to capitalize on the potential of the region's grasses, helping reduce fire risk and forest degradation while giving communities a sustainable fuel and income source. [more]

Linking forests, energy and livelihoods can help achieve SDGs