John Soussan

Urban fuelwood challenges and dilemmas

Abstract This paper explores the use of fuelwood in Third World cities. The importance of fuelwood and the factors which condition its use in cities are set out and three fuelwood problems are identified: the cost to urban consumers, fuel supply security and the impact of urban fuelwood markets on rural areas. Urban fuelwood interventions are evaluated, with four categories identified: interventions in marketing, conservation, increased, wood production and fuel-switching. Of these, fuel-switching by improved supply systems and increased production from smallholders and better management of natural woodlands appear to have the greatest potential. The need for flexibility/community participation in planning is stressed.

Planning for sustainability: Access to fuelwood in Dhanusha District, Nepal

Abstract This paper examines the problem of putting sustainable development ideas into practice through the detailed consideration of a recent fuelwood planning exercise in Dhanusha District in southern Nepal. The ways in which biomass fuels are produced and used are examined through their relationship to tenurial relations and proximity to the districts forest area. From this, the scale and nature of fuelwood problems are identified and a strategy to develop sustainable solutions to these problems is advanced. This strategy is based on the involvement of the local community at every stage of the planning process and the empowerment of local people through their direct control over decisions on the use of land and financial resources. The study concludes that sustainable planning is possible, but is far from easy. Above all, it depends on a different relationship between agencies of the state and the local communities which planning is intended to help.

Fuelwood policies for the 1990s

Abstract The paper provides a review of policy issues and options associated with the role of biomass as an energy resource. It seeks to demonstrate how such policies can be set in the context of local circumstances. The analysis focuses on the relationship of fuelwood problems to other development issues, recognizing that these problems are primarily a consequence of the interaction of environmental and economic forces at a local level. A series of fundamental policy reforms are an essential pre-condition to finding local answers to fuelwood problems. These policy reforms are the main focus of this paper.