Editing IPCC:AR6/SRCCL/Chapter-4 (section)

=== 4.5.4 Traditional biomass provision and land degradation ===

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Traditional biomass (fuelwood, charcoal, agricultural residues, animal dung) used for cooking and heating by some 2.8 billion people (38% of global population) in non-OECD countries accounts for more than half of all bioenergy used worldwide (IEA 2017 <sup>[[#fn:r741|741]]</sup> ; REN21 2018 <sup>[[#fn:r742|742]]</sup> ) (Cross-Chapter Box 7 in Chapter 6). Cooking with traditional biomass has multiple negative impacts on human health, particularly for women, children and youth (Machisa et al. 2013 <sup>[[#fn:r743|743]]</sup> ; Sinha and Ray 2015 <sup>[[#fn:r744|744]]</sup> ; Price 2017 <sup>[[#fn:r745|745]]</sup> ; Mendum and Njenga 2018 <sup>[[#fn:r746|746]]</sup> ; Adefuye et al. 2007 <sup>[[#fn:r747|747]]</sup> ) and on household productivity, including high workloads for women and youth (Mendum and Njenga 2018 <sup>[[#fn:r748|748]]</sup> ; Brunner et al. 2018 <sup>[[#fn:r749|749]]</sup> ; Hou et al. 2018 <sup>[[#fn:r750|750]]</sup> ; Njenga et al. 2019 <sup>[[#fn:r751|751]]</sup> ). Traditional biomass is land-intensive due to reliance on open fires, inefficient stoves and overharvesting of woodfuel, contributing to land degradation, losses in biodiversity and reduced ecosystem services (IEA 2017 <sup>[[#fn:r752|752]]</sup> ; Bailis et al. 2015 <sup>[[#fn:r753|753]]</sup> ; Masera et al. 2015 <sup>[[#fn:r754|754]]</sup> ; Specht et al. 2015 <sup>[[#fn:r755|755]]</sup> ; Fritsche et al. 2017 <sup>[[#fn:r756|756]]</sup> ; Fuso Nerini et al. 2017 <sup>[[#fn:r757|757]]</sup> ). Traditional woodfuels account for 1.9–2.3% of global GHG emissions, particularly in ‘hotspots’ of land degradation and fuelwood depletion in eastern Africa and South Asia, such that one-third of traditional woodfuels globally are harvested unsustainably (Bailis et al. 2015 <sup>[[#fn:r758|758]]</sup> ). Scenarios to significantly reduce reliance on traditional biomass in developing countries present multiple co-benefits ( ''high evidence, high agreement'' ), including reduced emissions of black carbon, a short-lived climate forcer that also causes respiratory disease (Shindell et al. 2012 <sup>[[#fn:r759|759]]</sup> ).

A shift from traditional to modern bioenergy, especially in the African context, contributes to improved livelihoods and can reduce land degradation and impacts on ecosystem services (Smeets et al. 2012 <sup>[[#fn:r760|760]]</sup> ; Gasparatos et al. 2018 <sup>[[#fn:r761|761]]</sup> ; Mudombi et al. 2018 <sup>[[#fn:r762|762]]</sup> ). In Sub-Saharan Africa, most countries mention woodfuel in their Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) but fail to identify transformational processes to make fuelwood a sustainable energy source compatible with improved forest management (Amugune et al. 2017 <sup>[[#fn:r763|763]]</sup> ). In some regions, especially in South and Southeast Asia, a scarcity of woody biomass may lead to excessive removal and use of agricultural wastes and residues, which contributes to poor soil quality and land degradation (Blanco-Canqui and Lal 2009 <sup>[[#fn:r764|764]]</sup> ; Mateos et al. 2017 <sup>[[#fn:r765|765]]</sup> ).

In Sub-Saharan Africa, forest degradation is widely associated with charcoal production, although in some tropical areas rapid re-growth can offset forest losses (Hoffmann et al. 2017 <sup>[[#fn:r766|766]]</sup> ; McNicol et al. 2018 <sup>[[#fn:r767|767]]</sup> ). Overharvesting of wood for charcoal contributes to the high rate of deforestation in Sub-Saharan Africa, which is five times the world average, due in part to corruption and weak governance systems (Sulaiman et al. 2017 <sup>[[#fn:r768|768]]</sup> ). Charcoal may also be a by-product of forest clearing for agriculture, with charcoal sale providing immediate income when the land is cleared for food crops (Kiruki et al. 2017 <sup>[[#fn:r769|769]]</sup> ; Ndegwa et al. 2016 <sup>[[#fn:r770|770]]</sup> ). Besides loss of forest carbon stock, a further concern for climate change is methane and black carbon emissions from fuelwood burning and traditional charcoal-making processes (Bond et al. 2013 <sup>[[#fn:r771|771]]</sup> ; Patange et al. 2015 <sup>[[#fn:r772|772]]</sup> ; Sparrevik et al. 2015 <sup>[[#fn:r773|773]]</sup> ).

A fundamental difficulty in reducing environmental impacts associated with charcoal lies in the small-scale nature of much charcoal production in Sub-Saharan Africa, leading to challenges in regulating its production and trade, which is often informal, and in some cases illegal, but nevertheless widespread since charcoal is the most important urban cooking fuel (Zulu 2010 <sup>[[#fn:r774|774]]</sup> ; Zulu and Richardson 2013 <sup>[[#fn:r775|775]]</sup> ; Smith et al. 2015 <sup>[[#fn:r776|776]]</sup> ; World Bank 2009 <sup>[[#fn:r777|777]]</sup> ). Urbanisation combined with population growth has led to continuously increasing charcoal production. Low efficiency of traditional charcoal production results in a four-fold increase in raw woody biomass required and thus much greater biomass harvest (Hojas-Gascon et al. 2016 <sup>[[#fn:r778|778]]</sup> ; Smeets et al. 2012 <sup>[[#fn:r779|779]]</sup> ). With continuing urbanisation anticipated, increased charcoal production and use will probably contribute to increasing land pressures and increased land degradation, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa ( ''medium evidence, high agreement'' ).

Although it could be possible to source this biomass more sustainably, the ecosystem and health impacts of this increased demand for cooking fuel would be reduced through use of other renewable fuels or, in some cases, non-renewable fuels (LPG), as well as through improved efficiency in end-use and through better resource and supply chain management (Santos et al. 2017 <sup>[[#fn:r780|780]]</sup> ; Smeets et al. 2012 <sup>[[#fn:r781|781]]</sup> ; Hoffmann et al. 2017 <sup>[[#fn:r782|782]]</sup> ). Integrated response options such as agro-forestry (Chapter 6) and good governance mechanisms for forest and agricultural management (Chapter 7) can support the transition to sustainable energy for households and reduce the environmental impacts of traditional biomass.

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