Pesquisa Florestal: Acesso Aberto
Acesso livre

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Fuelwood Consumption in Takoli Gad Watershed of TehriGarhwal in Garhwal Himalaya, India

Suraj Kumar and Munesh Kumar

The aim of the present study was to understand fuelwood consumption pattern of the villager at different altitudes in Takoli Gad Watershed. Three different altitudes i.e., 500-800 m (lower altitude) 800-1100 m (middle altitude), 1100-1500 m (upper altitude) were selected. At each altitude three villages were selected i.e., Dangchaura, Pali, Sauru (500-800 m), Takoli Tolu Amoli (800-1100 m) and Maikhandi Riscoti Kwili (1100-1500 m). Each selected village was further categorized based on family size into small, medium and large to observe impact of family size on fuelwood consumption. The results indicate that fuelwood consumption among family size (irrespective villages) ranged from 430.70 to 643.61 kg/capita/year (lower altitude), 486.66 to 689.90 kg/capita/year (middle altitude), 406.57 to 675.25 kg/ capita/year (upper altitude). The consumption of fuelwood increased with increasing altitudes as 541.8 (500-800 m), 554.97 (800-1100 m) and 557.71 kg/capita/year (1100-1500 m). However, fuelwood consumption with family size (irrespective altitudes), showed reduced with increasing family size from small > medium > large as 669.58 (small family), 543.35 (medium family) and 441.88 (large family). In the study, it has been observed that villagers collected fuelwood from forest and agro forestry field where agroforestry contributed 25-30% fuelwood consumption for villager’s need, which directly helps in reducing pressure on forest.