ECREEE Holds Sustainable Bioenergy and WACCA Forum in Mali

ECREEE – Praia Cape Verde, 7^th May 2018 - The national workshop on Sustainable Bioenergy and WACCA financed by ECREEE opened in Bamako, Mali on Thursday 3^rd May 2018. This is a two-day capacity building and sensitisation workshop on Sustainable Bioenergy and WACCA programs.

The workshop was organised against the background of the poor energy access that characterises the ECOWAS region with significant deforestation and degradation of natural resources having negative impact on health and sustainable development aspirations of the communities.

The national capacity enhancement and sensitization forum seeks to share among others, sustainable management, transformation and utilization of biomass, including forest resource for cooking, heating and power generation.

The workshop brought together technical and policy advisers in the energy and forestry sectors in the public, private and civil society organisations from the country with the objective to share information and to enhance capacities of actors within the Bioenergy and cooking energy sectors. Discussions cover the presentations on ECREEE and its activities, and the ECOWAS Bioenergy Policy recently adopted by the ECOWAS Heads of State and Government. There were presentations by ANADEB (Malian agency for development of Bioenergy) on the outlines of a structure on developing a Bioenergy Strategy and Policy for Mali and also on the Biomass consumption and resource availability in Mali by AMADER (Malian Agency for the Domestic Energy and Rural Electrification).

In the 2^nd day of the workshop, there were more presentations from nation institutions and private operators promoting sustainable biomass and clean cooking solutions. There was a presentation on the draft Cooking Energy Action Plan for Mali. After the deliberations on the draft, the workshop adopted the Action Plan with the proposed changes.  

The workshop was officially opened by Ms. Aminata Fofana, Director of Energy representing the Hon. Minister of Energy and Water while the welcome remark was delivered by Mr. Souleymane Berthe, Director of Malian Agency for Renewable Energy (AER-Mali). Both speakers recognised the need for capacity enhancement and sensitization on Bioenergy Systems and WACCA. They therefore welcomed the organization of the workshop in Mali, giving that 90% of the population depend on wood energy for its energy needs but in very inefficient and unsustainable manner. They thanked ECREEE for the timely intervention.

Earlier, Mr. Bah F. M. Saho, Principal Program Officer for Renewable Energy, representing Mr. Mahama Kappiah, the Executive Director of ECREEE addressed the workshop. He provided a synopsis of the efforts of ECOWAS to introduce sustainable energy access to the populations in the rural and peri-urban areas through the various intervention at regional level.

The 2-day workshop attracted about 55 participants.