ABSTRACT
Traditional fuels play a vital role in the developing world. Traditional fuel use can be divided into three broad consumption sectors: rural domestic, rural industry, and urban. The most characteristic aspect of rural domestic fuel use is its informal and largely non-commercial character. The data position on the urban use of traditional fuels is also unsatisfactory in most areas. Fuelwood and charcoal are also used for non-domestic purposes. The local level of wood fuel and other biofuel resources varies in accordance with several factors, including ecological and climatic conditions, land-use patterns and population density. Apart from the fuel provided by trees, there is, of course, a great deal of other naturally available burnable biomass in rural areas. The emergence of wood fuel scarcity in an area is commonly described in terms of a wood fuel 'gap' between supply and demand which emerges as a result of rising consumption and falling levels of supply.
