Addressing Forest Degradation in Assam

Forests and energy are intricately linked and play a critical role in climate change(Bull 2018). As per the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), deforestation and land use change accounts for about 15 percent- 17 percent of the global carbon emissions (IPCC 2007). Globally, nearly 2 billion people depend on fuelwood for the primary energy needs like cooking and heating (UN, 2017). The demand for fuelwood has been extensively cited as rendering forest degradation in many parts of the world, including India. In India, fuelwood extraction for domestic and commercial use in rural and semi urban areas contributes to about 93 percent of GHG emissions from the forestry sector, as per a study by the Energy and Resources Institute (TERI, 2018).Therefore, addressing this driver of forest change will be necessary for India to achieve one of its climate targets of creating an additional carbon sink of 2.5 to 3 billion CO2e from additional forest and tree cover until 2030.

-  Kundan Burnwal and Vijeta Rattani

Challenges with Fuel-wood Use

The Forest Survey of India Report 2019 although shows an overall forest cover increase, nevertheless point towards forest degradation. To tackle the challenge of unsustainable fuelwood extraction as a major driver of forest degradation and health hazards, the Government of India has been making significant efforts to reduce fuelwood consumption. India’s draft forest Policy 2018 mentions that in order to cater to the needs of the rural population and forest dependent communities for fuelwood and small timber, afforestation with suitable species should be intensified.

Moreover, it also mentions that efforts to promote alternative sources of energy like LPG, etc. should be promoted to reduce rural population’s dependency on forests. Emphasis on phrases such as Wood Is Good, Grow more wood- use more wood in the document serves to reiterate the need to replace more carbon intensive materials with wood which also locks carbon for several years.

The second hazard of fuelwood relates to health. Inefficient burning of fuelwood in homes and the resultant smoke adversely affects the health of women and children causing respiratory diseases and disorders. Globally, 3.8 million premature die due to smoke from fires and stoves. In India, schemes such as Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana aims to provide free LPG connections to the below poverty line households to reduce their dependence on solid biomass for cooking and other nonrenewable energy sources. As a result, the dependence on fuelwood has decreased from 294.28 kg/capita/year in 2011 to 278.21 kg/capita/year in 2019 which is a reduction of 5.46 percent (ISFR 2019).

About Forest NAMA Project