Field Document No.33

REGIONAL WOOD ENERGY DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME IN ASIA GCP/RAS/154/NET

TROPICAL FORESTRY ACTION PROGRAMME FUELWOOD AND ENERGY SECTORAL REVIEW

Ministry of Forestry Socialist Republic of Vietnam Hanoi, Vietnam

FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS Bangkok, May 1992 This publication is printed by the FAO Regional Wood Energy Development Programme in Asia, Bangkok, Thailand

The designations employed and the presentation of material in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Food and Agriculture Organiza- tion of the United nations concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitations of its frontiers or boundaries.

The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) alone and do not imply any opinion on the part of the FAO.

For copies write to: Regional Wood Energy Development Programme in Asia c/o FAO Regional Offcie for Asia and the Pacific Tel: 66-2-280 2760 Maliwan Mansion, Phra Atit Road, Fax: 66-2-280 0760 Bangkok, Thailand E-mail: [email protected] FOREWORD

The study on “Fuelwood and Energy”, as a component of the Tropical Forestry Action Programme, a Forestry Sectoral Review in Vietnam, supported by UNDP/FAO, was conceived in 1989 during an early phase of this exercise.

Due to its limited resources, the , Ministry of Forestry, requested FAO to provide additional support for the fielding of experts to conduct a comprehensive review on fuelwood demand and supply situation in Vietnam. FAO responded promptly by fielding Messrs. Auke Koopmans and Keith M. Gray to Vietnam in December 1990 and February 1991, respectively. Originally, the experts were to be fielded together in one mission to carry out the study, but this did not materialize due to practical reasons. Consequently, the experts had only limited time to interact and consolidate field information during their missions.

Nevertheless, both consultancy reports, field in March – April 1991, contained a great deal of valuable information. Though major findings of these reports have been incorporated very relevant to publish the findings in more details so that the pursuing on policy and planning on wood energy development in the near future in Vietnam and perhaps in other countries could be facilitated.

This consolidated report was prepared for three main reasons: to make the information available, to maintain the consistency of presentation, and finally, for the convenience of reference. While mainly relying on the information of the two original consultancy reports, some improvements have been based on verified information obtained later.

Wood energy – or as many people often simply refer to it, “fuelwood” – is not that simple or straight forward concept as it would seem on the surface, as is to be seen in this report. Wood energy embraces a wide scope of development efforts, both in institutional arrangements and the implementation. With regard to wood energy, many production, distribution and end-use systems exist, cutting across most socio-economic strata of both rural and urban people.

It is no surprise to energy and forestry planners to see vast majorities of people in developing countries to heavily depend on this civilization-old energy source. However, it is always amazing to note that in most of these countries, wood energy development has not been accorded with sufficient attention, let alone investment. The words “wood in energy” (sector) and “fuel in forestry” (sector) may perhaps better reflect a future strategy for investment planning in both sectors.

It is sincerely hoped that this report will be useful to interested readers, especially those two are actively involved in forestry and energy planning and development.

This project wishes to acknowledge wit