LPG subsidy removal will revive fuel wood use — FAO
The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has warned that the gradual removal of subsidies on liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) will erode the gains in the promotion of the product as an alternative to wood fuels.
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It said the steep increases in the price of LPG over the years could force marginal LPG consumers back to using wood fuel.
According to the organisation, although the country had made great strides with the introduction of sustainable forest management practices in its timber industry, “little attention has been paid to the supply of wood energy which represents a far greater use of forest and woody biomass”.
GIS workshop
Addressing participants at a five-day Geographic Information System (GIS) training programme for stakeholders under the wood fuels project in Kumasi, a programme consultant with the FAO, Mr Godwin Phylix Cudjoe, said wood fuel was dominant in Ghana’s energy equation, as was the case with most African countries.
The training was to equip the participants with GIS and remote sensing skills to address wood fuel supply gap challenge and how to establish a wood energy data base using GIS software.
It was organised by the FAO and the Energy Commission of Ghana with the view to assisting the commission to update the estimates on the national wood fuel potential in Ghana as part of the wider review of Ghana’s Strategic National Energy Plan (SNEP).
Planning and coordination
Mr Cudjoe said as urbanisation continued and forests became further depleted, “the real cost of domestic energy is set on a rising trend and the only long-term solution is substitution with alternative fuels”.
Thus, he said, there was the need for the Energy Commission to work on the nation’s wood energy planning to reflect both demand and supply considerations.
Database
The Corporate Planning Manager of the Forestry Commission, Mr Awudi Cudjoe, who chaired the programme, underscored the importance of national geospatial database for planning purposes.
According to him, “the country lacks comprehensive policies on mapping, spatial data infrastructure, use of continuous operating receivers and geodetic reference network, leading to a multiplicity of providers and lack of coordination and regulation in the sector.”
Challenges
Mr Cudjoe cited the country’s poor organisation and management practices, coupled with the lack of adequate infrastructure and skilled human capacity to develop the natural resources and manage the environment in a sustainable manner, as other challenges that needed to be addressed.