Quantitative Analysis of the Role of Biomass in Latin America

Abstract

Biomass, particularly that in the form of fuelwood, is considered to be the principal source of energy for a majority of Third World countries. However, quantitative assessment of fuelwood utilization is often difficult, both because of its ‘non-commercial’ status in many areas, and because of the lack of informaton arising from an unwillingness to officially acknowledge the high reliance of much of the population on this ‘unsophisticated’ fuel. This paper attempts to outline the current biomass utilization trends for Latin American countries. There, it can be shown that a high degree of correlation exists between low per capita income and a high proportion of fuelwood utilization and that the majority of fuelwood is used by the rural public sector, not the commercial and residential sectors. Generally, the trend is towards increased use of biomass energy both as a result of increased growth rates of rural populations and accelerated growth of marginal rural areas. The effect of this increased use has been to increase prices of fuelwood, and the systematic destruction of forest resources may have serious environmental consequences for these regions, with what is essentially a renewable energy source being rendered non-renewable. Recommendations are made as how to provide an integrated approach to the assessment of biomass as a national energy resource in Latin America, with implications for other areas of the world.