Fuel switching from wood to LPG can benefit the environment

doi:10.1016/j.eiar.2008.02.004

Environmental Impact Assessment Review

Volume 28, Issue 8, November 2008, Pages 523-532

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eiar.2008.02.004 Get rights and content

Abstract

The Himalaya in India is one of the world's biodiversity hotspots. Various scientific studies have reported and proven that many factors are responsible for the tremendous decline of the Himalayan forests. Extraction of wood biomass from the forests for fuel is one of the factors, as rural households rely entirely on this for their domestic energy. Efforts continue for both conservation and development of the Himalayan forests and landscape. It has been reported that people are still looking for more viable solutions that could help them to improve their lifestyle as well as facilitate ecosystem conservation and preservation of existing biodiversity. In this direction, we have documented the potential of the introduction of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), which is one of the solutions that have been offered to the local people as a substitute for woodfuel to help meet their domestic energy demand. The results of the current study found dramatic change in per capita woodfuel consumption in the last two decades in the villages where people are using LPG. The outcome showed that woodfuel consumption had been about 475 kg per capita per year in the region, but after introduction of LPG, this was reduced to 285 kg per capita per year in 1990–1995, and was further reduced to 46 kg per capita per year in 2000–2005. Besides improving the living conditions of the local people, this transformation has had great environmental consequences. Empirical evidence shows that this new paradigm shift is having positive external effects on the surrounding forests. Consequently, we have observed a high density of tree saplings and seedlings in adjacent forests, which serves as an assessment indicator of forest health. With the help of the current study, we propose that when thinking about a top-down approach to conservation, better solutions, which are often ignored, should be offered to local people.

Introduction

The Himalaya in India is one of the world's biodiversity hotspots. Worldwide, 25 hotspots (now 34) cover only 1.4% earth surface and are the living laboratories for biodiversity. Most of the biodiversity (44% of all plant species and 35% of the vertebrate species worldwide) can be conserved in those areas with minimal efforts (Myres et al., 2000). It has been reported that about 20% of the world's population lives in the biodiversity hotspots; these hotspot populations are growing at a rate of 1.8% per year, which is higher than the average world population growth rate of 1.3% per year (Biodiversity Hotspots - online). The population growth rate in the Indian Himalayan region is reported to be about 2.47% per year (Nandy and Rao, 2001), which is even higher than that of the average population growth rate of the biodiversity hotspots. The Himalayan ecosystems are among the most important and diverse ecosystems of the world, harboring a unique biodiversity and an important part of India's population, which both on the one hand are threatened by overexploitation, and on the other hand threaten the great Gangetic plains and its population and ecosystems by increasing runoff from deforested areas. Therefore, issues related to the conservation and management of the Himalayan landscape are very crucial, since the sustainable flows of ecosystem services from the Himalayan landscape (Singh, 2002) to the fertile lowlands of India are important for the sustainable livelihood of several hundred million people (Ives and Messerli, 1989, Saxena et al., 2001).

The ecosystem services are largely influenced by unsustainable overexploitation of forest resources and wood for fuel energy is one of them. It has been reported that 54% of the total global wood harvest is for fuel. Hence, woodfuel plays a major role in the progression of forest degradation. Also, this contributes to negative effects on the ozone layer (Osei, 1993). Unfortunately, the overexploitation of the resources is leading to fast degradation of the Himalayan forests (Rees et al., 2006, Pandit et al., 2007), which is influencing the sustainable flow of the ecosystem services from the Himalayan landscape (Singh, 2002). Furthermore, conversion of forest lands for agricultural production practices, the urbanization process, illegal exploitation of forest resources for monetary gain, and the tremendous increase in population are all additional factors involved in the observed changes over time and the landscape degradation in this ecologically fragile region (Semwal et al., 2004, Nautiyal and Kaechele, 2008).

The sustenance of the Himalayan people is entirely dependent on the conservation, management, and development of the Himalayan forests. Woodfuel collection from the forests is one of the main sources of energy across the region, and the people rely entirely on it since they have no alternate options to replace their woodfuel demand for cooking, water heating, room heating, etc. Therefore, the resources demanded to supply the manifold increases in the human population over time have resulted in heavy biomass removal from the Himalayan forests, which represents one of the primary causes for biodiversity loss and landscape degradation (Sen et al., 2002, Semwal et al., 2004). Therefore, balancing approaches are needed to help simultaneously support conservation and community development goals, rather than putting these goals at odds with each other. We have been working in the Himalayan region of India on issues related to natural resource management, biodiversity conservation, production system analysis, agriculture, animal husbandry, medicinal and aromatic plants cultivation, sustainable livelihood options within the local communities, protected area management, and local land-use cover change analyses. We have identified problems in the region and have evaluated many of the problem-solving strategies developed in the region.

The introduction of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) was one such problem-solving attempt made by the Government of India in an endeavour to improve the lifestyles of the local people. We evaluated the external effects of LPG introduction in Himalaya through the following specific study objectives. Our evaluation process included assessment of two indicators: (1) quantity of woodfuel consumption over time in contrast to the increasing population in the study area, where people have been using LPG for two decades; and (2) positive external effects on adjacent forest ecosystems, that show switching from woodfuel consumption to LPG helps to regenerate the forests.

Section snippets

Study area

The present study site is located in Central Himalaya (30°17′8″N 78°58′54″E) and includes 11 villages adjacent to the Rudraprayag district (Fig. 1). The selected villages are located near a road. In 2001, the total population of the villages was 3188; average family size was 5.5 persons per household. Population in the area is increasing rapidly, since only 1124 inhabitants were reported in 1981 and only 1621 in 1991 (Census of India). For this study, the year was categorized into four distinct

Methodology

The study follows standard methodology pertaining to the preliminary socioeconomic survey (Atteslander, 2003, Nautiyal et al., 2007) for counting the number of families and members in each household. Meanwhile, we collected data on the percentage of families using LPG at different time points. The quantity of woodfuel consumption was measured following standard sampling methods (Maikhuri, 1991, Bhatt and Sachan, 2004). A weight survey was administered in 20 randomly selected households to

Results and discussion

Fuel consumption pattern in the area where the government introduced LPG was studied and monitored in detail at three time points over the past two decades. In 1985, LPG was introduced. Since then, at decadal intervals, the LPG use patterns and woodfuel consumption patterns were studied in detail. In 1985, not more than 20% of households were using LPG in lieu of woodfuel. Before, as in 1983 when we first studied woodfuel consumption in the area, no family had been using LPG. However, between

Structure of forests adjacent to the study villages — an indicator-based evaluation

The present study also aimed to understand the positive external effects of the LPG on surrounding forests. In short-term development, particularly in forest ecosystem studies, it is difficult to measure all variables. Thus, we chose indicators to summarize the information and to help explain the changing conditions (Nautiyal and Kaechele, 2007a, Nautiyal and Kaechele, 2007b). The main indicators we have chosen for the evaluation of the forest ecosystem are: density and basal cover (BC) m²/ha

Conclusion

The current study reports that the pressure on forests for woodfuel collection has decreased tremendously since the government introduced LPG as a substitute for woodfuel in rural areas of the region. Our study also supported the theory that new innovations help change local attitudes in positive way, provided the local population believes them to be feasible. This study suggests that by focusing on forest conservation and biodiversity, basic aspects of human welfare are sometimes ignored and,

Acknowledgements

We are thankful to the editor-in-chief, Eric Johnson and reviewers for valuable comments and suggestions on the earlier drafts of the manuscript. SN extends sincere thanks to the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation for award of the fellowship. Views expressed here are of the authors only and not of the organization with which they are affiliated.

Sunil NautiyalM.Sc. Ph.D. (Plant Science) is currently working as Humboldt Research Fellow from Alexander von Humboldt Foundation at Institute of Socioeconomics, Leibniz-Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF). He investigates the sustainable livelihood aspects of local inhabitants in Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve. For the last years he has been documenting the ecosystem responses of the Himalayan region to anthropogenic pressures. His current interests include designing, developing

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Harald Kaechele is a professor for environmental economics at the University of Applied Sciences of Eberswalde, Germany and vice-chair of the Institute of Socioeconomics at the Leibniz-Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) in Müncheberg, Germany. He has a PhD from the Institute of Farm Management, Production Theory and Resource Economics, University of Hohenheim, Germany. He is acting president of German Environmental Fund and chairman of Friends of the Earth, Regional Organisation, Berlin.

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Fuel switching from wood to LPG can benefit the environment

Abstract

Introduction

Section snippets

Study area

Methodology

Results and discussion

Structure of forests adjacent to the study villages — an indicator-based evaluation

Conclusion

Acknowledgements

Biol Conserv

Biomass Bioenergy

J Environ Manag

Biomass Bioenergy

J For Econ

For Ecol Manag

Bioresour Technol

Environ Impact Assess Rev

Energy

J Environ Manag

Environ Model Softw

Ecol Model

Agric Ecosyst Environ

For Ecol Manag

Valuation of ecosystem services of Himalaya mountains forests for conservation through capacity building and policy interventions — a pilot study of Nepal and Uttaranchal India

Methoden der empirischen Sozialforschung Berlin

Vegetation composition and succession of abandoned farmland: effects of ecological, historical and spatial factors

Landsc Ecol

Rethinking community based conservation

Conserv Biol

Dominance and diversity along an altitudinal gradient in a montane forest of Garhwal Himalaya

Proc. Ind Nat Scien Acad

Structure of chir pine (Pinus roxburghii Sarg.) community along an altitudinal gradient in Garhwal Himalaya

Int J Ecol Environ Sci

Anthropogenic pressure on structure and composition of a Shola forest in Kerala, India

J Moun Sci

Salvaging nature: indigenous people and protected areas

The use of distance measures in phytosociological sampling

Ecology

Hybrid histories and indigenous knowledge among Asian rubber smallholders'

Int Soc Sci J

Multi-agent simulation as a tool for studying emergent processes

Coastal values and beach use survey report

Technical report

Emergent behavior in societies of heterogeneous, interacting agents; alliances and norms

Cows Are Forever: Methane Gas the Answer to Oil Imports

The Times of India

Social change and conservation