The “Woodfuel Integrated Supply/Demand Overview Mapping” (WISDOM) is a spatial-explicit method for highlighting and determining priority areas of intervention and supporting wood energy / bioenergy planning and policy formulation.
WISDOM supports strategic planning and policy formulation, through the spatial integration and analysis of existing demand- and supply-related information and indicators, and by modeling access patterns to supply sources. It provides relative/qualitative values such as risk zoning or criticality ranking, highlighting, at the highest possible spatial detail, the areas deserving urgent attention and, if needed, additional data collection. In other words, WISDOM serves as an ASSESSING and STRATEGIC PLANNING tool to identify priority places for action.
WISDOM is based on: a) the use of geo-referenced socio-demographic and natural resource data bases integrated within a geographical information system framework; b) a minimum spatial unit of analysis at sub-national level, c) a modular, open, and adaptable framework, that integrates information of relevance to wood energy from multiple sources; and d) a comprehensive coverage of woodfuel and biofuel resources and demand from different energy users. Special attention is paid to an accurate coverage of the existing patterns of “traditional biomass energy use”, such as fuelwood and charcoal use in households and small industries.