Fuelwood energy pattern and biomass resources in Eastern Himalaya

The paper describes the fuelwood consumption and energy pattern in Eastern Himalaya. The fuelwood consumption was estimated to be 1.79, 2.12 and 3.07 ton/capita/year, respectively, in tropical, sub-tropical and temperate climate. The fuelwood availability was observed to be 8.47 m tons against the projected requirement of 22.21 m tons during the year 2001, indicating a deficit by with of 61.0% between demand and supply which is expected to increase to 77.0 and 83.0%, respectively, by the year 2011 and 2021. The data revealed that labour energy expenditure on firewood collection was highest (86.78 MJ/capita/year) in tropical zone and lowest (36.90 MJ/capita/year) in temperate region. Fuelwood energy consumption was, however, recorded highest in temperate region (51.88 MJ × 103/capita/year) as against of 30.25 MJ × 103/capita/year in tropical zone. Among various activities, cooking required maximum energy, followed by space heating. The estimated growing stock was not able to sustain the rate of fuelwood consumption. Hence, restoration of degraded lands is need of the hour not only to meet the energy requirements of the tribal folk but also to maintain the ecological balance in fragile eco-system of the region, where slash and burn agriculture has already caused severe environmental degradation.