Fuelwood species diversity and consumption pattern in the homegardens from foothills of Indian Eastern Himalayas

Biomass bioenergy is an essential source of energy in many parts of rural India. Studies show a large scale fuelwood extraction from the local forests has resulted in the degradation of forest structure and composition. A detailed study on fuel wood species diversity and its utilization pattern is lacking for the Indian Eastern Himalayan region. The present study aims to inventorize the fuelwood species diversity and its utilization pattern among the homegarden owners in the Terai zone of West Bengal, India. A purposive, multi-stage random sampling was followed to select 100 homegardens for data collection. A total of 41 species belonging to 35 genera and 24 families were recorded during the study. The most frequent and abundant fuel wood species were Sapindus detergens and Machilus fasciculata . The average daily fuel wood consumption per household was 5.4 kg. On an annual basis, this total amount of fuelwood was equivalent to 102 m 3 of deforested wood and, on combustion; it emitted 319 t CO 2 , 2.3 t CO and 1.3 t CH 4 . The homegardens of the study area have a great potential to ensure the year-round supply of fuelwood to the households without additional cost and act as a tool to conserve the forest ecosystem. These micro-landscapes within the agricultural or human dominated landscapes around the homestead will not only serve as corridors of biodiversity conservation through habitat connectivity but also will increase heterogeneity of forest deficient landscapes particularly in the tropics satisfying small land holder’s domestic energy needs while, avoiding deforestation and thus offsetting carbon emission.