Woody biomass and bioenergy potentials in Southeast Asia between 1990 and 2020

Nophea Sasaki,Wolfgang Knorr,David R Foster,Hiroko Etoh,Hiroshi Ninomiya,Sengtha Chay,Sophanarith Kim,Sengxi Sun

doi:10.1016/j.apenergy.2009.04.015

Abstract

Forests in Southeast Asia are important sources of timber and other forest products, of local energy for cooking and heading, and potentially as sources of bioenergy. Many of these forests have experienced deforestation and forest degradation over the last few decades. The potential flow of woody biomass for bioenergy from forests is uncertain and needs to be assessed before policy intervention can be successfully implemented in the context of international negotiations on climate change. Using current data, we developed a forest land use model and projected changes in area of natural forests and forest plantations from 1990 to 2020. We also developed biomass change and harvest models to estimate woody biomass availability in the forests under the current management regime. Due to deforestation and logging (including illegal logging), projected annual woody biomass production in natural forests declined from 815.9 million tons (16.3 EJ) in 1990 to 359.3 million tons (7.2 EJ) in 2020. Woody biomass production in forest plantations was estimated at 16.2 million tons yr −1 (0.3 EJ), but was strongly affected by cutting rotation length. Average annual woody biomass production in all forests in Southeast Asia between 1990 and 2020 was estimated at 563.4 million tons (11.3 EJ) yr −1 declining about 1.5% yr −1. Without incentives to reduce deforestation and forest degradation, and to promote forest rehabilitation and plantations, woody biomass as well as wood production and carbon stocks will continue to decline, putting sustainable development in the region at risk as the majority of the population depend mostly on forest ecosystem services for daily survival.

Highlights

International concerns about global warming caused by excessive emissions of greenhouse gases led to the adoption of the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in 1997
The first three categories are grouped as production forest (PdF), where commercial logging and land development can take place, while the latter three categories are grouped as protected forest (PrF), where traditional firewood collection and small-scale logging for housing by local forest communities can take place
0.09% of deforested forestland is converted to forest plantations, our results suggest that most of the deforested land is converted to other types of land uses

Summary

Introduction

International concerns about global warming caused by excessive emissions of greenhouse gases led to the adoption of the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in 1997. The protocol commits industrialized countries, known as Annex I countries, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions during the first commitment period between 2008 and 2012. Several industrialized countries have pledged to reduce carbon emissions by up to 80% [1]. In addition to increasing energy efficiency and increased reliance on renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power, reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD) is likely to be a important mitigation option in the post-Kyoto agreements, because deforestation and forest degradation are responsible for the release of about 1.5 to 2.2 Gt C yr-1 [2, 3] or about up to.

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