Community-based natural resource management - International ...

32
China
Biogas – an alternative to fuelwood?
Planting trees for fuelwood is not always the best way to solve
energy shortages in remote, rural poor communities. When the need
is immediate and forest resources are badly depleted, as in west
Guangxi, China, people cannot wait for trees to grow. One alternative
in such circumstances is biogas.
China has very successfully promoted the use of biogas as a source of household
energy since the 1980s. A nationwide network was founded to research and apply the
technology, and some 7.6 million households now produce nearly 200 million m3 of
biogas annually. In the 1990s this strategy was extended to remote communities in
west Guangxi, where fuelwood was in short supply and rural electricity was not
available. In 2002 it was a key component of a six-year, IFAD-funded project
designed to improve and sustain the livelihoods of rural poor people while rebuilding
and conserving natural resources.