ECOWAS regional forum on bio-energy opens in Bamako

Bamako, Mali (PANA) - A forum of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) on bio-energy opened Monday in Bamako, the capital of Mali, official sources told PANA.

The meeting, bringing together experts from different ECOWAS member countries, is aimed at paving the way for the creation of a 'bio-energy sector in strict compliance with environmental and social aspects, creating synergy between the different stakeholders, proposing the effective technological means of converting biomass into biofuels and integrating the food-energy system into the agro-forestry systems.

Issues such as the economic, environmental and social benefits of bio-energy, simultaneous promotion mechanisms for food security and energy security through the integrated management of energy systems, agriculture, agro-forestry and mechanisms for the reduction of the negative effects of the use of firewood on health and on the environment will be addressed during the meeting.

The energy sector in the sub region is plagued by the continued drop in prices of hydro carbons, the low rate of access of the populations to electricity, the chronic deficit of supply in the face of the high growth of energy demands and the poor state of electricity production and distribution measures.

ECOWAS comprises Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Côte d’Ivoire, the Gambia, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Guinea, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo.
-0- PANA GT/AAS/PAP/VAO 19March2012