This book is intended to close the short comings highlighted above. It is fully embracing the value-chain approach for sustainable production of bioenergy from wood. Furthermore it is meant to address all relevant aspects of biomass production and conversion along the production chain, with a particular focus on tropical and sub-tropical countries of the Southern Hemisphere.

The authors admit to bias towards Southern Africa, from where most of the case studies were taken but assume that the examples can be applicable to many other countries in the tropical and sub-tropical zone and in the Southern Hemisphere. The intention of this book is to present the state of the art in bioenergy production from a technical perspective, domestic and global consequences for the environment, economic feasibility and the socio-economic implications. All of these points address typical challenges of a bioenergy production system in tropical countries, considering both intensively managed plantation forestry and small growers and community forests.

This approach addresses all essential aspects of the value added chain of bioenergy production. The book is written for scientists that are involved or want to become involved with research on bioenergy as well as for forest practitioners and forest managers who are looking for an up to date compendium on the topic.

The book may also serve as a concise introduction into bioenergy production for stakeholders and decision makers that have to create the framework for sustainable production of bioenergy from forests and woodlands.

Chapter 2 introduces biomass inventory concepts for the localisation of woody biomass using terrestrial and remote sensing techniques. It is closely aligned to Chap. 3 which is dedicated to modelling and simulation of biomass. In Chaps. 4 and 5 silvicultural management aspects of biomass production for bioenergy in natural woodlands and commercial plantations are discussed. Chapter 6 introduces relevant topics of biomass harvesting, transport and logistics and provides the interface between biological production and biomass processing. The latter is dealt with in Chap. 7, and provides an overview on conversion techniques for woody biomass and their application range. Chapter 8 provides the reader with information on biomass quality testing, which is a prerequisite for establishing optimum conversion techniques. In Chap. 9 an analysis of socio-economic impacts of biomass production is presented, and provides the linkage to society as a major stakeholder when it comes to the implementation of bioenergy value chains. Chapter 10 introduces constraints to the implementation of biomass production systems resulting from potential impacts on water, soil fertility and biodiversity. Chapter 11 finally provides an overview on more global impacts of bioenergy production with a life cycle assessment based on a case study.