Forestry and bioenergy in Asia and the Pacific

摘要

The major constraint for forest-based bioenergy in Asia and the Pacific is in the economic supply of wood and the quantities available relative to population projections. Economies of location are more important than economies of scale for those industrial bioenergy processes using wood. Therefore, small-scale and decentralized bioenergy plants that are integrated with existing wood-processing plants have the most economic potential. Supply is also limited by the practical unavailability of the significant levels of traditional fuelwood that remain necessary for cooking, declining roundwood production and forest areas in many Asia-Pacific countries and the likely future rise in demand for industrial wood as a low energy product. Increasing productivity through reforestation policies provides perhaps the best policy option for the future of forest-based bioenergy. Land for reforestation is constrained by increasing urbanization and the value of land is tied to rising population. There are potential pitfalls relating to forest expansion for bioenergy at the expense of other forest functions. This particularly relates to the increase in oil-producing tree crops on land that might otherwise support multifunctional forests. However, policy options are available that may avoid these potential risks.