Publications

Survey of Energy Resources 2007

Peat Country Notes

Burundi

There are appreciable areas of peatland, totalling about 140 km². The principal known deposits lie beneath the Akanyaru swamp complex in northern Burundi: these cover about 123 km² and are estimated to contain 1.42 billion cubic metres of peat in situ. The proved amount in place (expressed in terms of recoverable dry peat) was reported in 1992 to be 56 million tonnes.

Peat has been proposed as an alternative fuel to wood, in order to reduce deforestation, and a number of surveys have been conducted. Fuel peat is currently produced by semi-manual methods at four locations, but usage of the resource remains predominantly for agricultural purposes. The UN Statistics Division estimates annual production and consumption of fuel peat as 5 000 tonnes.