ECOWAS REGIONAL BIOENERGY FORUM

19/03/2012 - 01:00

ECREEE in cooperation with its partners  from the Global Bioenergy Partnership (GBEP) including Brazil, Ghana, the Netherlands, Sweden, USA, UNDP, UNEP, UN FAO, and the UN Foundation, organized a regional bioenergy forum from the 19th – 22rd March 2012 in Bamako, Mali. The forum initiated an international dialogue and peer-to-peer learning to support the ECOWAS Member States in developing their bioenergy strategies, which will help meet their energy needs and create a vibrant and sustainable modern bioenergy sector that promotes economic growth, rural development, and poverty alleviation.  The Forum presented new methods and information developed by GBEP Partners and Observers on assessing the economic, environmental and social benefits and challenges of modern bioenergy.  Special emphasis was given to the means to promote simultaneously food and energy security and the possibility of alleviating the negative health and environmental effects that derive from the use of traditional biomass fuelwood for cooking.
 
Furthermore, the Forum provided concrete examples of success stories from Africa and presented policy tools from UNEP, FAO and the Global Bioenergy Partnership that can promote the creation of a sustainable bioenergy sector that can drive economic growth without harming environmental and social conditions, and even improve them. At the end of the Forum, a Regional Bioenergy Strategy Framework was adopted which seeks to enable and promote domestic and foreign investments that help address energy poverty prevailing in the region  both  in rural  and peri-urban populations, without  compromising food security and environment.
 
The development of this Strategy  would be based on the following key components:

  1. Resource Assessment and Planning
  2. Policies and Strategies
  3. Knowledge sharing
  4. Capacity building
  5. Financing mechanisms and resource mobilization

Below you can find further information on the strategic framwork, discussions and presentations at the forum. (Press release is available here)