A key conclusion from the above calculation is that 70 (42)% of the deforestation observed in many African countries can be attributed to woodfuel demand. This is in contrast to the conclusions of Arnold et al. [14], which suggest that globally, woodfuel demand is not a major cause of deforestation. The difference in our conclusions can be attributed in part to the focus in this study on Africa, as well as the removal from the analysis of countries with very high losses due to factors other than woodfuel demand and countries with a high GDP, which were clouding the relationship between wood demand from forests and deforestation. Having removed these countries from the analysis, a significant correlation between wood demand from forests and deforestation could be established, allowing the relationship between woodfuel demand and deforestation to be developed and then extended to all countries with a GDP per capita below 10 k$. Uncertainties in this conclusion arise from uncertainty in the efficiency of energy use in the different designs of wood burning stoves used in Africa, the percentage of the woodfuel requirement that is actually supplied and the percentage of energy obtained from woodfuel in the rural and urban populations. The contribution of woodfuel demand to deforestation is predicted to increase by 2030 to 83 (50)%. This is consistent with an increasing population, requiring more woodfuel and so contributing to a higher proportion of the total deforestation. This was calculated for the business-as-usual scenario, assuming the pattern of rural and urban energy demand, efficiency of cook stoves and percentage of woodfuel extracted from forests remains unchanged. In future, developments in infrastructure, at least in the urban environment, are likely to reduce the percentage of energy demand obtained from woodfuel; this may reduce the overall woodfuel demand. However, charcoal is more popular and widely used in urban areas. The speed of urbanisation is rapid in Africa and 50% of African people are projected to live in cities by 2050 [2]. Energy provision by charcoal is 4e6 times less efficient than by wood, and so charcoal use in such large urban areas is likely to counter the reduction in woodfuel demand due to infrastructure advances; energy use per capita may also increase with demographic changes. Efficiency of cook stoves is likely to improve with technological developments; this would reduce the woodfuel demand. In addition, the percentage of woodfuel extracted from forests is likely to be reduced as accessible forest areas decline. All these factors will reduce the contribution of woodfuel demand to deforestation, so the woodfuel contribution to deforestation of 83% should be assumed to be a high estimate. The final key conclusion is that biogas production has the potential to reduce deforestation due to woodfuel demand by 6e36% in 2010 and by 4e26% in 2030. The highest contribution to biogas production is from cattle manure. The main uncertainty in this conclusion is in the amount of biogas produced per cow. This is highly dependent on the type of animal, the food intake, the size and the breed, and is estimated to be between 0.3 and 2 m3 biogas day1 per head [34]. More accurate estimates of the biogas