52 International Forestry Review Vol.18(S1), 2016 Economic and social importance of fuelwood in Cameroon R. EBA’A ATYI1, J. NGOUHOUO POUFOUN1,4,5, J-P. MVONDO AWONO2, A. NGOUNGOURE MANJELI3 and R. SUFO KANKEU1,6 1Center for International forestry Research (CIFOR) 2The University of Dschang (Cameroon) 3Ministry of Forests and Wildlife (Cameroon) 4Bureau d’Economie Théorique et Appliquée (BETA), Université de Lorraine (France) 5Inra, AgroParisTech, Laboratoire d’Économie Forestière 6Laboratoire ESO, University of Maine (France) Email:
[email protected] SUMMARY The study presented in this article focuses on firewood and charcoal in Cameroon. The study analyses subnational secondary data combined in some cases with additional collected data on firewood and charcoal consumption as well as their market prices. The findings estimate a total consumption of 2.2 million metric tons for firewood and 356,530 metric tons for charcoal in urban areas of Cameroon. Firewood and charcoal contribute to the GDP for an estimated amount of US$ 304 million representing 1.3% of the GDP of Cameroon. In addition, the sub-sector provides about 90,000 equivalent full time jobs while 80% of the people in Cameroon depend entirely on wood-energy for household energy supply. Unfortunately, there is no government policy to develop the wood-energy sub-sector. Keywords: wood-energy, firewood, charcoal, consumption, benefits, national economy Importance économique et sociale du bois-énergie au Cameroun R. EBA’A ATYI, J. NGOUHOUO POUFOUN, J-P. MVONDO AWONO, A. NGOUNGOURE MANJELI et R. SUFO KANKEU L’étude présentée dans cet article s’est intéressée au bois de feu et au charbon de bois au Cameroun.