The Contribution of Fuel Wood Combustion to Greenhouse Gases: A Case Study in Rural Tribal Dehradun

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The larger share of household energy needs of rural poor of developing countries is due to biomass burning. The past studies showed that the biomass combustion is potential source of global emissions of GHG. This emission is responsible for many hazards viz., health, climate, quality of life etc. However, the contribution of fuelwood is either not estimated properly or not available due to various technical reasons for assessing the impacts on local, regional and global issues.

This issue is being addressed by monitoring the emission of four major GHGs by the portable devices due to fuelwood combustion in the 102 randomly selected kitchens of rural forest dependent tribal community of Jaunsar, Dehradun, India with other relevant characteristics. Based on the data collected for CO2, CO, NO2 and SO2 at different time intervals, the concentrations, emission ratios and emission factors were estimated.

The analysis showed that the mean concentration of all monitored gases was far more exceeding to the ambient air quality standards. Based on the concentration of gases at different time period, emission ratios (ERs) were estimated separately. The mean emission ratio with respect to CO2 in percent (CO - 7.97 ± 0.71; SO2 - 0.21 ± 0.02; NO2 - 0.23 ± 0.02) was estimated to ascertain the total contribution of fuelwood to GHG production locally based on the utilisation of fuelwood by these villagers of the region. This showed that the contribution of the fuelwood is also significant for these gases. This information can be used for visualing and mitigating the social, economic and environmental impacts locally. Moreover, this information can also be utilized for predicting the sustainability criteria for emissions through policy formulation.

Stream: Human Impacts

Paper: A paper has not yet been submitted.

I am a student of M.Sc. Environmental Management at Forest Research Institute (ICFRE), Dehradun. I have been associated with research work on climate change for an year. My interest lies in climate change impacts and mitigation strategies. I was recommended by Ministry of Youth affairs and sports to Participate as an Indian delegate in “ Asia regional workshop on the role of youth in mitigating the impacts of climate change for sustainable livelihood” (13th-18th October, 2008) and won 2nd Prize in poster presentation out of 7 countries presentations. Besides this I’ve got published four research papers in national and international conferences. Moreover, my interest lies in Environmental auditing and CDM, I've also attended a training course for the same.

I am working as a statistician in environmental impact assessment division, ICFRE, Dehradun since Oct., 08. Before that, I was working as a statistician in Forest Research Institute, Dehradun since more than ten years.I have completed my doctorate in the issues related to the social, economic and natural resources. I was also instrumental for number of projects on the valuation and contribution of forest resources to the rural people in the institute beside the exploration of the linkages with their social, economic and decision environment. I am having a strong inclination towards valuation of natural resources. At present I am working as a social analyst for three projects