Cookstoves and REDD+ Understanding Woodfuels Impact on Tropical Forests (Briefing note)
The use of woodfuel for cooking and heating is a vital source of energy for an estimated two and a half billion people in developing countries.1 It has also become an increasingly discussed topic in climate change mitigation, both within the international climate change negotiations on reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+), and within the private sector where there has been an increase in clean cooking solutions offered in developing countries under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and voluntary carbon markets.
While there has been considerable research within the international community on the contribution of deforestation and forest degradation to global GHG emissions3 and the role of cooking in causing forest loss4, very little empirical data exists on GHG emissions from woodfuel use for cooking and the corresponding contribution to forest loss.
Using recent data from Yale/UNAM, the UN Energy Statistics Database, WHO, UN FAO, and recent scientific literature, this study draws together research on woodfuel consumption and deforestation to understand the impact of woodfuel use on forest loss, and the potential for clean cooking technologies to address the resulting GHG emissions.
