Current (2000) and projected (2015) woodfuel consumption patterns and supply potentials in continental Southeast Asia are analysed and mapped applying the Woodfuel Integrated Supply/Demand Overview Mapping (WISDOM) methodology. The author explains that the scope of the study was to analyse current woodfuel consumption patterns and supply potentials in the countries of continental Southeast Asia, to map different wood energy situations with highest possible resolution as of 2000 and to project status for 2015, applying the WISDOM methodology. The study area included Cambodia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand, Viet Nam and Yunnan Province of China.
Combined with poverty data, the study contributed to the definition of the areas within the sub-region where rural and suburban populations living under the poverty line and depending primarily on woodfuels for their subsistence energy supply, are likely to suffer severe shortages. Subsistence energy shortages due to insufficient access to woody biomass add a new important indicator to the mapping of extreme poverty and a new dimension to poverty alleviation policies and programmes.
This study develops woody biomass consumption maps that are coupled with likely population distribution in 2015 and model projections of woodfuel consumption, giving future consumption scenarios. The author introduces this study as a starting point for expanding work in the agro-energy sector, which can benefit from the approach, the GIS analytical environment, the additional thematic layers and the nexus with forestry, energy and poverty alleviation issues.

By: R. Drigo (FAO)

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