Capacity building for sustainable bioenergy in the ECOWAS countries: biomass resource assessment and mapping seminar follows up on Bamako forum

Biomass resource assessment and mapping were recognized as critical for an effective and efficient planning of bioenergy production and use in the ECOWAS region during the ECOWAS- GBEP Regional Forum held in Bamako last March: the second workshop organized by the Activity Group 1 (“Regional Forums/Workshops on Sustainable Modern Bioenergy") was held in Rome on 13-14 November to focus precisely on these issues.

Organized by GBEP in cooperation with the ECOWAS Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (ECREEE), and with the support of the Government of the United States of America, the workshop brought together representatives of the Ministries of Energy and Agriculture of the ECOWAS Member States,  together with GBEP  Partners and Observers,  as well as regional and international organizations, academia, business and civil society representatives active in the region, in the field of bioenergy and  included discussions of the following technical topics:
1)  Methodological framework for resource assessment and mapping of environmental, social and economic resources, and calculations of total available biomass;
2)  Cataloguing and sharing experiences to date related to biomass use, existing resource maps, and socio-economic conditions, including methods for the allocation and tenure of land.  

The two-day event saw a number of interesting presentations followed by highly interactive Q&A sessions covering different aspects from the state of art in the field of biomass resource assessment in the region to cutting edge technology for biomass resource assessment and technical aspects of biomass assessment through the in-depth description of available tools such as WISDOM and other GIS based applications, to highlight the importance of ground-truthing and data verification.

An important conclusion of this workshop discussion was the recognition of the need for a stepwise approach to the issue of resource assessment, given the complexity of the topic and the specific conditions of the ECOWAS region. Among next steps to be taken, both at regional and national level, the workshop identified the creation of a regional network of institutions to increase capacity and facilitate the bioenergy promotion in the ECOWAS region and the creation of a network of private sector and civil society stakeholders that are already working in bioenergy related matters, in order to create a reference list.

Ultimately, the workshop highlighted the need to attract business driven investments to help address the energy gap in the region: in the ECOWAS region there are several pilot scale projects on bioenergy that have demonstrated a potential under many points of view. To upscale those successful stories to a level where many more people could benefit from them, however, further steps are necessary. The role of the representatives of all ECOWAS countries was recognized fundamental as catalysts of the change in the energy sector of the ECOWAS region for achieving the goals of the Sustainable Energy for All initiative.
Presentations and conclusions of the workshop can be downloaded on the GBEP website 

 

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