This workshop will address the challenges of fostering sustainable firewood use for heating and cooking in households of the UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) region. It will provide a platform for exchanging experiences throughout the region on how to improve wood energy applications, and participants will be invited to develop guidance for providing an enabling policy framework to optimize the use of wood as a clean and healthy source of energy for households. The workshop will result in two outcomes: a collection of best practices; and a roadmap for policy makers. Participants will review and discuss the draft documents, which will be provided prior to the workshop. Participants from development agencies, academia, and intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations addressing heating and cooking are expected to attend the workshop. A parallel exhibition will raise awareness regarding the complexity of, and potential improvement in, firewood use in households, including regarding health and resource efficiency. It will showcase the different aspects of efficient firewood use in households, encouraging people to learn about wood, where its energy is stored, how it is transformed to heat and how to preserve this heat for household use.  

dates: 6-8 October 2015  
venue: Palais des Nations, Room VII  
location: Geneva, Geneve, Switzerland  
contact: Florian Steierer  
e-mail: florian.steierer@unece.org  
www: http://www.unece.org/index.php?id=37423
 http://www.unece.org/fileadmin/DAM/timber/meetings/20150218/More_heat_with_less_wood___announcement.pdf