A forum dubbed the ‘African Regional Forum on Promoting Wood-Based Bio energy Using Wood Residues and Wastes’ held in Douala from 3-5 September 2008, and called for the strengthening of country’s capacity to assess, monitor, and report on forest and wood energy related information. Governments, the private sector and the civil society should work in partnership to achieve this goal.

The forum also called for the stimulation of local and communities for the development of wood based bio-energy, especially in tropical zones. The last recommendations are concerning work with procedures to identify suitable markets for wood energy products such as charcoal, wood and charcoal pallets, briquettes and to ensure they meet any standards that may be required for export.

In this video, Dr. Antonio Carrillo, coordinator for this program in East Cameroon, explains that wood-based bio-energy offers countries, including developing countries in the tropics an opportunity to improve their energy security.