Woodfuel Trade in India

- National Workshop

RWEDP Report No.57, 1999

Table of Contents

The National Training Workshop on "Woodfuel Trade in India" was jointly organised by the Indian Institute of Forest Management (IIFM) and the Indira Gandhi National Forest Academy (IGNFA) at IIFM, Bhopal from February 17-19, 1999. The Workshop was sponsored by the Regional Wood Energy Development Programme (RWEDP), FAO, Bangkok, Thailand.

Woodfuel continues to be the most impotant fuel option in rural India, especially in the domestic sector. Woodfuel is a renewable resource and, within the limits of sustainability, its extraction from forest as well as non-forest sources can be called eco-friendly. Moreover, it provides employment to millions of the rural poor, particularly the trivals, the landless and other forest dependent people. On the other hand, woodfuel collection is condemned as a major cause of the depletion of the country's forest cover and its present legal status is not encouraging for the private growers and transporters of woodfuel. Moreover, it is generally believed that the informal channels of the fuelwood trade are neither properly documented nor understood.

Against this backdrop, the workshop was organised with the following objectives: to raise awareness of the role and importance of wood energy in different localities of India; to network the key actors in woodfuel production, flow and utilisation; to identify issues and problems in the trade; and to understand and establish linkages between various trade channels.

Table of contents
	Foreword
	Preface
	List of Abbreviations
Part I.	Introduction and Overview
1.	Introduction to the Workshop
2.	Inaugural Session
3.	Summaries of the Technical Papers, Case Studies and Discussions
4.	Field Visit and Observations
5.	Conclusions and Recommendations
Part II.	Technical Papers
1.	Wood Energy in RWEDP Member Countries: The System of Woodfuel Flows
2.	Woodfuel Trade in India
3.	Prospects of Wood Energy Resource Development in India
4.	Yes-No Approach to the Extended Application of Modern Wood Energy in India
5.	Status and Prospects of Wood Energy Resources in Punjab
6.	A Dynamic Model of an Alternative Income Approach to Reduce Illicit Fuelwood Production and Sale in Open Markets
7.	Fuelwood Consumption and Trade in Rural South India
8.	Production and Marketing of Fuelwood in the Gadchiroli District of Maharashtra: A Case Study
9.	Forests and Displaced People: Fuelwood Collection and Trade as a First Step Survival Strategy
10.	Fuelwood Trading and Integrated Bioenergy Planning
11.	Contribution of Farm Forestry to Fuelwood Availability: A Few Lessons from Maharashtra
12.	Fuelwood Trade in India: Case Studies in South Bengal
13.	Trade in Wood in the Wooded Villages
14.	Ecodevelopment - A Pragmatic Approach to Resolve the Fuelwood Crisis
Part III.	Appendices
Appendix 1:	Inaugural Address of the Chief Guest
Appendix 2:	Keynote Address on Rural-Urban Wood Trade in India
Appendix 3:	Workshop Agenda and Schedule
Appendix 4:	List of Participants

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