Planning for Sustainability: Access to Fuelwood in Dhanusha District, Nepal

JOHN SOUSSAN Reading University and ETC United Kingdom

ELS GEVERS ETC Netherlands, Leusden

KRISHNA GHIMIRE ETC United Kingdom, Newcastle

and

PHIL O'KEEFE Newcastle Polytechnic and ETC United Kingdom

Summary. -- 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 district's 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.

1. INTRODUCTION rent (food, not fuel) but the mechanism is the same: the unsustainable management of land Recognition of the fuelwood crisis facing the resources by the local community. world's poor has been with us for some time now More recently we have begun to understand (Eckholm et al., 1984; Soussan, 1988). As is often that biomass fuel problems can rarely be general- the case, there was at first a tendency to overstate ized as they reflect complex and variable interac- and simplify the problem, with untenable projec- tions between local production systems and the tions of the mass decimation of the biomass environmental resources on which they are based resource base of many areas commonly ad- (Leach and Mearns, 1989; Munslow et al., 1988). vanced. In Nepal, this position was related to the Fuel and food needs are not mutually exclusive devastation of the Himalayan forests, increased (Acharya, 1990; Ives, 1987), and the effective erosion in the hills and worsening flooding in the management of the local resource base will allow Ganges plain. This simple link between house- local people to provide for a wide range of needs hold fuel use and environmental destruction is (Soussan, 1990; Blaikie and Brookfield, 1987). implicitly accepted by many commentators and Put simply, biomass fuel use and the problems policy makers, despite the accumulating evidence that stem from it are specific to people in to the contrary (Hamilton, 1987). An alternative particular places at particular times. position blames land clearance for agriculture, Much of the complexity reflects two sets of not wood use for fuel, for deforestation factors. First, the existence of biomass resources (Bajracharya, 1983; Sattaur, 1987; Hrabovszky in a locality is not enough to guarantee that all and Miyan, 1987). Here, the objective is diffe- who need them have sufficient fuels available.

IPQ~ 1300 WORLD DEVELOPMENT

Local people must have access to the resources; planners and administrators (Wallis, 1989; Grif- access which is constrained by location, land fin, 1987), but is also a consequence of our poor tenure and land management practices. Second, understanding of the systems in which we are fuelwood problems do not express themselves as seeking to intervene. The creation of sustainable a simple and direct shortage of fuel. As local solutions requires a different approach, in which resource stresses emerge, people cope with the the rigorous quantification of supply and demand situation in a variety of ways. These responses is subordinated to an analysis of people's percep- are variable and indirect, and as such are highly tion of the responses to fuelwood stress (Soussan, specific to the locality. 1990; Munslow et al., 1988). Such an analysis Fuelwood use cannot be separated from other must take account of factors conditioning access aspects of the local production system, and to local biomass resources and niches within the fuelwood stress is part of a wider development production system which offer opportunities for problematic. The rural poor live in a biomass- intervention. If it is to achieve true change, based economy in which local land resources development planning must go beyond the rhe- provide for the bulk of their survival needs. toric of sustainability to create mechanisms for Wood and trees are an integral part of this local empowerment. economy; rural production systems involve far more than the production of the main crop, whether it is for home consumption or sale. Rural communities harness a combination of 2. FUELWOOD IN DHANUSHA private and common property resources to produce goods for both subsistence consumption and This paper presents such an approach for the market. There is frequently a gender division Dhanusha District in southern central Nepal (see of responsibilities in this, with men typically con- Figure 1). It is based on the results of a detailed trolling commercial production and women hav- survey conducted in 1987-88. Some 80% of ing prime responsibility for providing food, fuel Dhanusha District is densely settled farmland in and a range of other basic needs for household the Terai, the Nepalese part of the Gangetic maintenance (Blaikie and Brookfield, 1987; plain. The remainder, in the north of the district, Ellis, 1988; Agarwal, 1986). Class-based distinc- lies in the southern ranges of the Siwalik Hills, tions around the control of land are also impor- and is a designated forest area under the control tant, with larger landowners more concerned of the Ministry of Forestry. The survey was with production for external markets, and land- executed by a multidisciplinary team as part of a poor and landless households more concerned project funded by the European Economic Com- with access to common resources for domestic munity to design a sustainable fuelwood strategy consumption. Few poor households can survive for Dhanusha District, in partnership with staff by wage labor alone; fuel, fodder, foodstuffs and from the Forestry Department. A rapid appraisal other essential goods gathered from the local of 20 villages in the district was followed by morc environment are a central part of their household detailed surveys of energy use, biomass resource economy. availability and land management practices in These complexities of fuelwood production five villages selected on the basis of their location and distribution across social groups present in relation to the main forest zone, the metaled formidable challenges to energy planners. Inter- road, and the main urban area of Janakpur. A ventions need to be as varied and as locality- survey of fuel markets and household fuel use in specific as the problems they are intended to Janakpur was also executed. A number of sites in confront. The repeated failure of single techno- the forest zone was studied to ascertain the logy solutions (Warlord, 1989; Armitage and quality and distribution of biomass resources and Schramm, 1989), whether they be large planta- to assess indicators of resource stress in the tions, community forestry, improved stoves, or forest. This survey included all biomass (under- novel energy sources such as wind, solar or growth as well as trees) and assessed the distribu- biogas, reflects the failure of planners to under- tion and quality of different species and the stand local conditions and, in particular, their extent and vigor of regeneration. Finally, the reluctance to involve the people they are trying main exit points from the forest zone in the north to help in the identification of problems and the were monitored for a period of one week and the design of solutions (Leach and Mearns, 1989). quantities of different sorts of biomass material Recent calls for sustainable development arc extracted assessed. widely accepted as a moral argument, but are As an area, Dhanusha is comparable to the rarely put into practice. This partly reflects a lack most severely deforested districts of the Terai of will on the part of national and international such as Mahottari. There is a rich literature on PLANNING FOR SUSTAINABILITY 1301

• ReconnaJssarcevillages (~ Deta~qedvillage studies 0 250 Forest area

'--- Roads JANAKPtJR ZONE ~- Railways .~_~ Terai

I ~\ t\ ~1 '~ I / / k

- Y'-I" /L~J Ramchandra ~'ol~e{~/

, I ~/ ,'~ !

I I % ! I Bisrampur • | .... _2 (/ .,w. • Haripur \ )~ Kochal •

.... I i ) Dharaempur / Barmajhiya t\ / ,,® ...... _ ;',, \ \\

I ,,~ll ~ t// Yadukowa• ~oth Koilpur\\ TRIP TO"F'6~'~ i//JANAKPUR ~ Dhabauli • ' \\ •it" ,: ~ Durbakot e ~\

"i'." ! .,~.S adi ..," .' Ha,~,~..,~- - ".,,."-~.. ~,/ j" ,,: .',, / • :I .I... i';,J,,"~'~-" ' N D ' A --""~L//_ "~., "...... e-'- If'", fJ'f 0 10 20

Figure I. Dhanusha District, Nepal. 1302 WORLD DEVELOPMENT environmental stress and local management of Table 1. Land distribution in Dhanusha District (1981-82) resources in Nepal, but much of it concerns the hills regions, where land tenure, forest manage- Total ment practices and the history of government Size of area Average number policies are all different from those in the Terai holding Number (Ha) of plots (Bajracharya, 1980, 1983; Acharya, 1989, 1990). In Dhanusha one finds the poverty and environ- Less than 1 ha 46,511 11,653 2.1 mental stress which characterize large parts of 1-2 ha 11,393 17,145 4.3 Nepal. One also finds responses to these stresses 2-4 ha 8,012 22,605 6.3 by the local community which offer hope for the 4--10 ha 2,090 11,312 8. I future, but which have been largely ignored by Above 10 ha 413 6,830 18.6 the many forestry and energy projects in Nepal. Total 68,419 69,545 3.2 It is these local initiatives, and the knowledge of the environment they reflect, which must form Source: Central Bureau of Statistics (1985). the basis of sustainable fuelwood planning. Dhanusha District has a pattern of energy demand characteristic of many Terai districts. most severely by households with the poorest There is a sharp contrast in patterns of land access to land resources. resource management, control and degradation between districts in Nepal's hills and the Terai. 3. PA'Iq'ERN OF BIOMASS FUEL There is an extensive literature on the hills region CONSUMPTION (Bajracharya, 1980, 1983; Acharya, 1989; Ives, 1987; Sattaur, 1987; Fonzen and Oberholzer, Estimates of the average per capita consump- 1989); the Terai has been studied less extensive- tion of different fuels in Dhanusha District are ly. The differences between the regions must be given in Table 2. If these averages are represen- explicitly accounted for in policy formulation, as tative of the district as a whole, total annual fuelwood problems and intervention opportuni- demand for fuelwood is over 134,000 tons, for ties are different in the Terai than in the hills. dung 178,000 tons, for crop residues as fuel Most energy in Dhanusha is used in the 98,000 tons, and for other biomass materials household sector, with non-household demand 43,000 tons. As such, fuelwood provides only confined to transport, industrial and commercial 38.5% of the biomass energy used in Dhanusha. activities in Janakpur town and some agricultural Dung provides 34%, crop residues 19%, and mechanization and processing. Within the house- other biomass such as leaves and grass scrapings hold sector biomass fuels dominate, providing 8.5%. The use of residues has increased over 96% of fuel use. Cooking is the most important time as fuelwood supplies have become increas- source of demand in both rural and urban areas: ingly restricted to households located near the over 67% of all household fuel use is for cooking forest or that own trees on private land. (Water and Energy Commission, 1987), with Throughout the district biomass fuels are the food processing (mainly rice parboiling) account- main source of energy, but in different areas the ing for another 18%. role of fuelwood, agricultural residues, small The northern 20% of the district consists of the twigs and other biomass materials such as leaves southern ranges of the Siwalik Hills, which are and grass is different. As we shall see, this largely mostly covered by degraded woodland (see relates to land tenure and location in relation to Figure 1). The rest of the district is almost the forest. entirely under cultivated land. Population densi- ties are high (over 370 persons per km 2) and Table 2. Average consumption o] ]uel.g in rural increases as one moves south toward the Indian Dhanusha border. Land holdings are small (Table 1), and many are divided into several plots. Fragmenta- Annual per capita tion and declining holding size have been an Fuel Unit consumption increasing problem over time, with a growing proportion of households becoming landless or Fuelwood kg 315 land poor. About 30% of the rural population Dung kg 419 were estimated to be landless at the time of the Crop residues kg 230 survey. Throughout the district, pressures upon Other biomass kg 101 land resources are acute. This is reflected in a Kerosene It 8 severe and rapidly deteriorating fuelwood crisis which hits all areas of Dhanusha, but which is felt Source: Water and Energy Commission (1987). PLANNING FOR SUSTAINABILITY 13~)3

There is also some seasonality in this variation. commercial fuelwood market is felt far beyond Many households (and in particular those located the urban area; a situation found throughout the some distance from the forest) gather much of Third World (Soussan et al., 1990). The over- their fuelwood in the slack agricultural season exploitation of the forest resources in the Siwalik before the wet monsoon. These stocks will last Hills is in great part driven by the commercial them for some time, but fuelwood is less avail- market, and in many rural areas wood is increas- able during the monsoon period from July to ingly becoming commercialized in response to October when agricultural labor demands are at the rapid growth of urban and industrial demand their highest and transport is most difficult. and prices. During this period residues replace wood as a fuel source. Urban consumption averages about 400 kg per 4. BIOMASS RESOURCES AND capita per year, but varies by income group. FUELWOOD SUPPLIES Total urban household consumption of fuelwood is approximately 20,000 tons a year. Consump- Dhanusha District's biomass resources can be tion is highest in upper- and middle-income divided between those in the government forest households, for which fuelwood accounts for up area in the north of the district (much of which is to 90% of total fuel use. Low-income urban located in the southern extension of the Siwalik households use far less wood (about 65% of their Hills) and those in the mainly agricultural areas fuel needs), partly as a result of their greater use which cover the southern 80% of the district. The of dung (which is also commercialized in Janak- assessment of the quantity and distribution of the pur), and partly because of far lower levels of per biomass resources in each of these areas presents capita fuel use. For low-income urban house- a number of problems. In particular, existing holds, problems of fuel poverty are acute. A data take little account of biomass resources consumption level of one kilogram per person outside the forest or non-tree resources inside the per day for an average sized household of six forest, and estimates of forest productivity are people will require 30% of the average urban based on data which do not reflect the substantial laborer's wages of 20 rupees per day. degradation these forest resources have experi- A number of industries in Dhanusha use enced in recent years. Table~3 summarizes fuelwood as their main source of energy. The estimates of the woody biomass resources of largest consumers are brick kilns (which consume Dhanusha. These figures were calculated during over 11,000 tons a year), the distillery in Janak- the fieldwork in Dhanusha using a combination pur (700 tons a year) and the two tobacco barns of field measurements and secondary sources, (1,000 tons a year each). and represent the best data available. Numerous small enterprises, such as res- The forest area (some 30,000 hectares or about taurants, bakeries, and artisanai tile makers, also 20% of the district) constitutes over 80% of the use fuelwood. Their combined consumption is current sustainable yield of woody biomass, with small, however, compared to the large industrial resources in the agricultural landscape forming users or the urban household sector. Overall, the the remaining 19%. If the undergrowth in the commercial fuelwood market in Dhanusha Dis- forest is taken into account, this area contains trict is close to 40,000 tons a year, a substantial over 90% of Dhanusha's potential fuelwood level of demand given existing pressures on the supplies. The extent of the forest area has district's resource base. The impact of this remained fairly constant for the last 20 years,

Table 3. Woody biomass resources of Dhanusha District

Annual yield Area ('000 tons) Total yield Sources (hectares) "Frees Undergrowth ('000 tons)

Siwalik 30,000 45.6 69.63 115.23 Hills On-farm 2,400 10.95 n/a 1(I.95 Trees Total 32,400 56.55 69.63 126.18

Source: Field surveys. 1304 WORLD DEVELOPMENT reflecting the fact that clearance for agriculture the village. These are dominated by mangoes, had reached the foot of the Siwalik tlills in the but also contain other species of fruit, bamboo, 1960s. The hills themselves have minimal agricul- and other trees. These orchards are owned by tural potential. larger landowners, and are carefully managed. The estimated total sustainable yield of The second type includes sissoo trees on field 126,000 tons is only slightly less than current bunds, and around orchards, ponds and else- estimated demand of 134,000 tons. Not all of this where. Finally, there are fruit and other trees in potential supply is utilized, however, as the areas home gardens, around homestead plots and of the forest with the highest yields are those elsewhere inside villages. All three categories of which are most remote from the local communi- trees are privately owned, making access to land ties. The forest is exploited from the most the critical factor for assessing the position of accessible points of entry in the south and along rural households' access to local fuelwood sup- river courses. This has led to substantial over- plies. There are a few trees scattered on common exploitation in selected areas, with these acces- property land, such as river banks or communal sible sites having experienced major degradation grazing areas. The quantity of common land in in recent times as more material is removed for Dhanusha is limited, however, and most of it is fuel, fodder and other uses than is replaced by not very productive, and contains few trees. The natural regeneration. The severely degraded area pressure on these common property resources is is extending further into the forest each year, and severe, and has led to their widespread degrada- it is significant that a high proportion of the tion. biomass produced in the forest area is from In Dhanusha crop residues are used for many shrubs and bushes, rather than trees. purposes, including fodder, construction mate- The forest area in the hills is designated forest rials, and manure, as well as for fuel. Similarly, under the control of the Forestry Department, dung is the main source of manure and is used in and officially all removal of biomass material is construction. No agricultural residues arc illegal without permits. In practice few people wasted, and in some localities are increasingly obtain such permits in Dhanusha District. The commercialized. Fuel remains a major use of local foresters make little effort to systematically crop residue. In localities where resource pres- regulate the removal of wood and fodder from sures are at their most severe, th..e availability of the forest, but do exercise sporadic control. agricultural residues is threatened. Local villagers complain of confiscations and The district-level summary tells only part of beatings by forest guards, and corruption is said the story. There is considerable variation within to be rife. The need to avoid or bribe forest Dhanusha District in the pattern of access to guards is seen as part of the cost of obtaining biomass fuels. This variation had two dimen- forest materials, and in practice legal restrictions sions. First, diffcrent localities within the district on access to the forest make little difference in have markedly different patterns of biomass the quantities of forest products removed. The resource availability and fuel use. The key factor lack of alternative supplies of fuel, fodder and here is proximity to the forest area in the north, other forest products means that nearby com- but other factors also play a part. Second, munities will use the forests regardless of the patterns of fuel use and availability vary consid- restrictions placed upon them. Their current erably within any one locality. Land tenure is the alienation from the forest means that they are crucial factor in this both as a determinant of neither willing nor able to effectively manage the income and in dictating the direct availability of resources they are exploiting. The current rela- fuel supplies. An understanding of these varia- tionship between forestry staff and local villagers tions in access among people and places is vital is extremely antagonistic, and their mutual suspi- to any analysis of fuelwood problems and inter- cion needs to be overcome if any constructive vention opportunities (ETC, 1987). To provide partnership between them is to be forged. data on these variations, detailed village-level Biomass fuel supplies in rural areas are domi- studies were conducted in Dhanusha. Key results nated by agricultural residues, which are the from these studies are summarized in the follow- main fuel source in many communities. There are ing section. considerable numbers of trees in agricultural areas, however, which are valued for a variety of purposes (ETC, 1987; Leach and Mearns, 1989). 5. FUELWOOD SITUATIONS IN These trees are an important fuel source for the DHANUSHA DISTRICT households which own them. There are three principal types of trees on farms in Dhanusha. The studies of the fuelwood situation in five First, there are private orchards on the edge of rural panchayats and Janakpur Town provide a PLANNING FOR SUSTAINABILITY 1305 detailed picture of the structure of biomass fuel well as women, and some of the wood is often use within the local production system of Dha- sold. Households with sufficient land or livestock nusha. The five villages pre~nted here were will meet their fuel needs from their own biomass selected after a comprehensive reconnaissance of resources. For smaller farmers, dung and crop the district in which 20 panchayats were rapidly residues are more important, as they have few appraised (see Figure 1). Their varying locations trees, but as land holdings increase a greater in relationship to the forest area in the north, the proportion of fuel comes from wood from the main road, and rail transport routes ensure that a farmer's own land. wide spectrum of sites has been covered. The In these areas, increasing differentiation is panchayats range from Tadiya, which is close to emerging between different tenure classes (Table both the forest and the main east-west highway, 4). Pressures on biomass resources affect all, but to Goth Koilpur, which is remote from both those with access to private land resources are forest and any transport routes. able to provide for their needs with relative ease. The information was collected using a variety Those without such access are forced to use of methods. These included detailed observation, inferior fuels, to undertake long journeys to rapid household surveys (using local enumerators collect fuel and even, in a number of cases, to with an intimate knowledge of the village), in- purchase biomass fuel from local markets. depth interviews with key informants, and group The third fuelwood situation is found in vil- discussions with different categories of villagers. lages in the south of Dhanusha which are located Villages such as Tadiya in the north of the too far from the forest for fuelwood collection. In district (Figure 2) have ready, daily access to the villages such as Goth Koilpur and Thadi (Figure main forest area. The collection of fuel or forest 4) dung and crop residues have replaced wood as products is done almost exclusively by women, the main fuel for all except middle and larger and does not require a trip which disrupts other farmers who have trees available on their land. activities. This does not mean that access is easy; Pressures on all biomass resources are severe, it ean still involve a number of hours. The and tree planting for a range of purposes is a landscape around Tadiya is extremely open, with growing response to these pressures. In these those trees present being mainly forest relics. areas the differentiation between tenure classes is Agricultural potential is lower than in the south- acute (Table 4), with many landless households ern parts of the district. There is little irrigation, reduced to burning leaves, scrapings of dried with maize a major crop and livestock numbers grass, and any other biomass scavenged from the extremely high. In this area wood from the forest few areas of common property land. In some provides 90% of people's fuel needs. There is no cases, dung has become commodified and is sold significant variation in this figure across social for fuel use, and the commodification of wood is classes (Table 4); landless laborers use compar- widespread. In these areas, access to private able quantities of the same fuel from the same biomass resources (both land and livestock) is the sources as large landowners. In recent years determinant of the extent of the impact of fuel some families have started to use some residues, scarcity on different households. As presssures but only in small quantities. Biomass from on the resource base have increasingly affected agricultural land is not an important source of all sections of the community, higher income fuel. Women in Tadiya did report some signs of households are entering into competition with biomass resource stress. In particular, they were landless and land-poor households for all forms having to travel considerably further into the of biomass materials. In the southern section of forest to meet their fuel and fodder needs, as Dhanusha the fuelwood situation has deterio- adjacent areas have degraded to little more than rated to the point where many households (in open shrub. Overall, the fuelwood situation in particular the landless and land poor) are faced villages such as Tadiya is not serious, but could with major problems in meeting their fuel needs. easily become so if the deterioration of the forest The response to these stresses varies, but for area is not reversed. households with poor access to land resources the The second characteristic fuelwood situation in alternatives are limited. Dhanusha is illustrated by Sabaila and Ramdaiya The final fuelwood situation is found in the (Figure 3) panchayats. In these villages fuelwood urban area of Janakpur town, where fuel is a is still important, but agricultural residues have commodity for all households. Wood is still the emerged as a major source of fuel over the last main fuel source, but wood prices have rapidly generation as the forest frontier has retreated increased to one rupee/kg. Other fuels are northward, Some fuel is still collected from the increasingly being used. Kerosene is used widely forest, but this involves a special trip of one to in conjunction with wood, with the kerosene two days. Increasingly such trips involve men as typically used for hot drinks and light meals and 1306 WORLD DEVELOPMENT

TADIYA

SIWALIK HILLS

'~/~ Plot with OPEN I AGRICULTURAL LAND houses /"- lit kr.- 2 km =

, M n0o o0oo | \ ~ ---.--'-~ --~--, • ~ land I ' Road - /'~ "I " " " ! _/ -)1- ~--~1~ ~ J"---L 1/2kin t z _~ / L I- Lentils ~" | ~ /(~11~"~ Bananas AGRICULTURAL LAND tor,ver ~%~,.., t(~(~ J Mango grove

Cattle / goat herding OPEN GRAZING OPEN GRAZING LAND LAND with plots of mustard

KEY 14"~ I Village boundary •fi~ Houses N Rice straw stacks \~4"~~. ~._Uschoo,~\

,,,-To Janakpur Main road

1 - 25 Bight///

25-4 Bigha.t. 8,' Crop residue • 4 Bigha 15 % k 7 .J% Tenants "~ ~

POPULATION DISTRIBUTION DISTRIBUTION OF FUEL USE BY TENURE CLASSES

Figurc 2. Tadiy. Panchayat. PLANNING FOR SUSTAINABILITY 1307

Table 4. Fuel use by tenure class in study villages

Household Fuels Used (percentage total) Category Wood Dung Crop Residue Other

r~diya Landless 88 4 4 4 Below 1 Bigha 78 2 Ill Ill 1-2.5 Bigha 79 -- 7 14 2.5-4 Bigha 92 2 2 4 4-10 Bigha 90 -- 3 7 Above 10 Bigha 90 -- -- 10 Tenants 88 -- -- 12 Sabaila Landless 35 46 ll) 9 Below 1 Bigha 37 55 5 3 1-2.5 Bigha 37 49 9 5 2..5--4 Bigha 50 42 6 I 4-1(I Bigha 48 47 2 3 Above 10 Bigha 55 45 -- -- Tenants 36 46 12 6 Ramdaiva Landless 63 29 8 -- Below 1 Bigha 45 47 8 -- 1-2.5 Bigha 55 35 10 -- 2..5-4 Bigha 33 56 11 -- 4-10 Bigha 58 38 4 -- Above 10 Bigha 87 11 2 -- Tenants 57 35 8 -- Thadi Landless 4 30 38 28 Below 1 Bigha 15 60 15 10 1-2.5 Bigha 20 56 24 -- 2..5---4 Bigha 55 32 13 -- 4-10 Bigha 68 30 2 -- Above 10 Bigha 80 15 5 -- Tenants 11 48 28 13 Goth Koilpur Landless 5 33 40 22 Below 1 Bigha 25 70 5 -- 1-2.5 Bigha 17 56 26 l 2.5-4 Bigha 64 32 4 -- 4-10 Bigha 73 27 -- -- Above 10 Bigha 83 15 -- -- Tenants 14 60 19 7

wood for the main meal of the day. Middle- and of extraction of biomass from the forest area in upper-income households use electricity or bot- the north, and the influence of this market is tled gas when possible, but the insecurity of their leading to the commodification of fuelwood over supplies is cited as a severe problem. Low- a wider area (Soussan et al., 1990). This is income households are increasingly relying on reflected in the export of wood to the town from dung, which can be purchased for between 50 many villages in which local people are struggling paise and one rupee per stick. In Janakpur, fuel to meet their own needs. poverty is an increasing problem. The rapid growth of Janakpur's fuelwood 6. INDICATORS OF FUELWOOD STRESS market is having a severe, detrimental impact IN DHANUSHA DISTRICT throughout the district. The urban market is one of the main factors behind the unsustainable rate In Dhanusha District, fuelwood scarcity is 1308 WORLD DEVELOPMENT

RAMDAIYA KEY ------Village boundary l ,~ Houses I % N Rice straw stacks % ,~ Dungcakes Schoo~ / % / M % Rice husk N

Rice husk / >n machine ...=& OPEN Po 4~ 4~

AGRICULTURAL K / I Po.d/- / I LAND II

Sissoo trees __JPond L Sugar cane Mustard Dry rice fields ,~.~. t__

--Road--

~Crop residue 2.5-, Bigha ~ \ 4- 10 Bigha ..~"~f''~ / ~ 2.2'/o /~'- Tenants/ Landless i t w;] )'" > ' OoBoilh:\~

POPULATION DISTRIBUTION DISTRIBUTION OF FUEL USE BY TENURE CLASSES

Figure 3. Ramdaiya Panchayat. PLANNING FOR SUSTAINABILITY 1309

THADI

LTURAL ~ID

Mango g

~B Mang° amboo

Mahin~ Reilwt=7 o,=,,~,, l~,m ~ ~ ~ Village boundary / Houses ...._ BORDER L I N D I A

2.5-4 Bigha I 8~ 23.7% /

>10 Bigha" ~ I~.1% [ .... / 0.4%

POPULATION DISTRIBUTION DISTRIBUTION OF FUEL USE BY TENURE CLASSES

Figure 4. Thadi Panchayal. 1310 WORLD DEVELOPMENT having a profound impact on many sections of most dramatically apparent in the forest area of the population. As is true elsewhere, however, the Siwalik Hills, much of which has been there is no generalizable fuelwood problem reduced to a landscape of scrub vegetation with (Soussan, 1988; Leach and Mearns, 1989). These severe erosion damage. Much of this over- resource stresses express themselves in many exploitation is not for the fuel needs of local different forms, and vary from locality to locality. people, again emphasizing the point that fuel- They are specific to people and places. They wood stress cannot be separated from other express themselves indirectly, not as a quantifi- aspects of the local biomass economy. Over- able shortage of energy, but as some form of exploitation is not confined to the hills area. disruption of the local production system. The Common property resources outside the forest key to understanding this variation is access. have universally deteriorated and the use of Fuelwood problems are best understood by residues as fuel instead of fertilizer affects soil looking at how people respond to the resource fertility and structure. pressures they face (Soussan, 1988; Newcombe, Fuelwood is increasingly becoming a commod- 1989). These responses can be taken as accurate ity in Dhanusha District. Much of this is due to indicators of fuelwood stress, with different the growing urban market, but many rural responses reflecting the severity of the problem households are also beginning to buy wood. and the range of opportunities open to individual Indeed, a number of villages have substantial households. periodic fuelwood markets, in which prices are The first and most widespread indicator of rising as rapidly as those in Janakpur. In some fuelwood stress in Dhanusha is the increase in the cases it is households with no alternative source time taken to collect fuels. This was cited as a of supply which are forced to buy their fuel in widespread problem, as it reduces the time these markets. Once again, fuelwood problems available for the many other tasks facing rural hit the poorest first and hardest. During the people (particularly women, who traditionally fieldwork, instances of the commodification of are the fuel providers). This factor is a particular animal residues were also found -- perhaps the feature of the northern and central parts of ultimate expression of the severity of biomass Dhanusha, where the decline in the forest area fuel problems. and the deterioration of what remains mean that These four indicators -- increased collection people are having to walk further to the forest time, switching to residues, over-exploitation, and, once there, further into the forest to collect and commodification -- were the most widely the fuel they need. Increased collection time is found indicators of fuelwood stress. Many others not confined to these areas, however. Through- were also encountered, but they took a variety of out the district people were having to spend more forms and were frequently more individual than time hunting for fuel as increasing pressures on those already discussed. These other responses local resources diminish the quantity of biomass have been grouped into four additional categor- available in all areas. ies. The decline of wood availability has led to a Many expressions of changing cooking and fire widespread switch to inferior fuels. This has management practices were found. Women man- affected all areas except those immediately adja- aged the fire more carefully, adopted enclosed cent to the forest. Crop residues, such as rice stoves, reduced the number of meals per day or straw or maize stalks, and cattle or buffalo dung pots per meal. Some have changed to quicker are the most widely used alternatives. They are cooking foods. The use of fuel for heating has even used by the largest landowning households. also declined. These responses can result in As the pressure on resources has accelerated, significant fuel savings, and some reflect rational competition for even these residues has become conservation measures. They have important more acute. Landless and land-poor households nutrition and health implications, however, and in many areas can no longer meet their needs by must be viewed with care (see Ghimire, 1988, for using residues, and are increasingly resorting to a fuller discussion of this issue). scavenging for leaves, grass and any other Examples of farmers planting trees or crops biomass they can get; their poor access leaves with a high residue content were encountered. In them no alternatives. For these people, the no case was extra fuel the exclusive reason for "'safety net" of agricultural residues has failed. In increased biomass production (Fonzen and the worst cases, they are approaching fuel Oberholzer, 1989), but it was cited as a factor in starvation. their calculations. Thc southern parts of Increasing pressure on biomass resources is Dhanusha. where resource pressures are leading to a rate of exploitation which is resulting greatest, have noticeably higher rates of tree in the deterioration of the resource base. This is planting than the northern areas. PLANNING FOR SUSTAINABILITY 1311

Fuel shortages have resulted in reduced The strategy developed to address Dhanusha's biomass availability for competing,demands. In fuelwood crisis stemmed from the analysis of the particular, the use of dung and crop residues for structure of fuelwood use presented above. The fuel has severely reduced manure availability (a institutional context is important, and in many situation found in Ethiopia by Newcombe, 1989). ways was unusually favorable in Nepal at the This has resulted in increased inputs of chemical time the strategy was developed. There has been fertilizers, which increase production costs and a strong push to implement a decentralization are frequently difficult to obtain. Straw and program in Nepal, based on the Decentralization leaves for fodder, materials for construction and Act of 1982. Decentralization has been seen as a other competing demands are also under stress in vehicle to increase local participation in develop- many places. ment planning and implementation. As such, it Finally, Dhanusha's biomass fuel crisis has led fits in well with the approach presented here. As to a number of changes in the social relations of Bienen et al. (1990) point out, the implementa- fuel provision. The rights of landless laborers to tion of the decentralization strategy in Nepal has collect fuel from their employers" lands are being been far from smooth, but it did provide us with eroded. Men are increasingly collecting fuel, a an opportunity to challenge traditional, top- task which used to be the exclusive responsibility down institutional structures which otherwise of women. The use of fires as a social focus is would have been a major barrier to the imple- declining. These and many other changes are mentation of the strategy outlined here. The key affecting the fabric of rural social relationships in issues of fuel poverty and environmental degra- elusive but profound ways. dation need urgent remedies, but traditional These responses to fuelwood stress do not all approaches which center on expensive and in- happen at the same time (Soussan, 1988). Early appropriate plantations of exotic trees do not signs of emerging stress are increased collection reflect the local political economy of fuel provi- times, more careful management of cooking fires sion and are not sustainable in economic, en- and over-exploitation of local resources. These vironmental or institutional terms. Building a responses can accumulate gradually; there is not sustainable fuelwood future requires a strategy in often a conscious awareness of change. As the which local people are the central actors, and the stress worsens, the early signs become more real constraints of limited and heavily used pronounced and people begin to switch to biomass resources are recognized. There were alternative fuels. These changes reflect structural three main elements to the strategy developed. shifts in the pattern of fuel provision. In other First, the strategy recognized the need for words, fuel stress begins to disrupt the routine of environmental reconstruction in the northern local people's lives. forest area if this area is to fulfill its potential as a The deterioration of the situation will lead to biomass supply source for local people. The goal more profound changes. In Dhanusha, such was to permit the regeneration of the area's changes are the widespread commodification of natural woodland, rather than to institute an rural fuel supplies, changes in diet patterns and, expensive planting program. This regeneration increasingly, the disruption of social relations of should recreate the diversity of the woodland fuel provision. On a more positive note, they also environment, providing local communities with a include the wider planting of trees in southern range of products and ensuring greater environ- areas of the district. All of these reflect profound mental durability. This regeneration in turn changes to the nature of the local production requires that existing patterns of over- system as the impact of resource stresses (of exploitation cease; a goal that cannot be achieved which fuelwood scarcity is just one) accelerates. by simple prohibition. Alternatives to the materials extracted from the forest must be found. The commercial urban and industrial market has 7. BUILDING A SUSTAINABLE the greatest negative impact, and was tackled by FUELWOOD STRATEGY a fuel switching strategy (outlined below). Local farming communities also use the forest, and for The indicators listed above illustrate the sever- them fuel switching is not viable; they cannot ity of fuelwood problems in Dhanusha District. afford commercial alternatives. In consequence, As has been emphasized, these problems affect a series of "buffer" plantations of fast-growing different people in very different ways. It is fodder and fuelwood shrubs, managed by local equally true that different people have different communities for their own needs, were planned opportunities to confront these problems. This on Forestry Department land at the main en- means that intervention strategies must be targe- trance points to the forest. These plantations are ted to the opportunities of different groups. sited in locations which are more accessible than 1312 WORLD DEVELOPMENT existing collection areas, and in consequence or no land were to be given access to state-owned should provide for people's needs with consider- land where available. Conservation was to be able savings in collection time. This more than encouraged. This "greening" of the farming area compensates for the labor needed to establish would also lessen pressures on the forest and help and care for the plantations, which are under the its regeneration. direct control of local people and which conse- Finally, a strategy to diminish and ultimately quently can contain the species they prefer, eradicate the urban and industrial fuelwood cultivated using their traditional knowledge base. markets was advanced. This strategy was based Financial and technical resources from the For- on the provision of alternative commercial fuels, estry Department are available where needed, which are comparable in cost but are frequently but only in response to local requests. The difficult to obtain, to replace fuelwood; a strategy strategy does not impose external technical which has been successful elsewhere (Soussan, approaches on local communities. 1989; Soussan et al., 1990). The main industrial The legal and institutional relationship of local users, which need process heat, were to be communities to the forest area will also change, prohibited from using wood and provided with with the area currently controlled by the Forestry access to coal imported from India. This met with Department assigned to different panchayats as a favorable response, as coal is cheaper and easier "panchayat forests." This will formalize the local to handle, and could be engineered relatively communities' rights of access to the forest area swiftly. Urban household energy presents a more and permit the development of effective, locally difficult problem, but a strategy to promote based forest management. This change in the kerosene among lower-income groups and LPG legal status of the forest is essential if villagers are and electricity among wealthier households was to have a stake in the effective management of promoted. The cost of these alternatives is not the local resource base. prohibitive (see Table 5), but the cost of stoves Second, the biomass resource base of the and poor supply reliability have discouraged agricultural areas outside the forest -- the main people from switching. Subsidized kerosene fuel source for most communities -- was to be stoves for the poor and improved distribution strengthened and diversified through the forma- systems should produce a relatively rapid switch tion of community-based "user groups". These from wood in the urban sector, leading to a groups would be provided with resources (finan- substantial reduction of pressures on the forest cial, technical and land as appropriate) to exe- and commodification trends in rural areas. cute a series of local projects aimed at building upon existing responses to stress. The choice of activity is to be in the hands of the groups 8. CONCLUSIONS themselves, but indicative types of local project are the encouragement of tree planting initiatives This paper presents the results of an appraisal by small farmers, the establishment of local of the fueiwood situation in a district in southern nurseries on state land by landless or women's Nepal, one of the world's poorest areas. It stems groups, and the dissemination of locally designed from a real planning exercise, and as such has and produced stoves. Households with land were had to come to terms with the very real con- to be encouraged to increase their woody straints on planning in a poor country. The biomass production, which would lessen their energy crisis in Dhanusha was indeed serious, but competition with land-poor households for com- even within such a confined area it differed munal resources and residues. Those with little dramatically in the form it took and in people's

Table 5. Comparative fuel prices m Janakpur

Efficiency Conversion Cost of useful Fuel of use factor Price energy

Firewood 10-18% 16.7 mj/kg 1 Rs/kg 0.33 Rs/mj Kerosene 47% 36.3 mj/It 6 R.'41t 0.35 Rs/mj Electricity 50% 3.6 mj/kwh 1 Rs/kwh 0.6 Rs/mj Coal 35% 33.6 mj/kg 2 Rs/kg 0.17 Rs/mj Coal dust briquettes 35% 22.3 mj/kg 1.75 Rs/kg 0.27 Rs/mj

Source: Field surveys. PLANNING FOR SUSTAINABILITY 1313 responses to it. There is no one fuelwood this and be willing to give local people the power problem, and certainly no one simple, blueprint to make real choices over their future. This solution applicable over the district as a whole. power will stem from local control over the Effective planning must recognize its limitations resources, such as land and capital, which the and build upon what is already there. The local planning system can make available. We have community must be at the heart of the planning historically seen a progressive alienation of the process, involved at every stage from inception to poor from control over the resources which affect execution. Their needs and wishes are the base their lives. This alienation needs to be reversed from which sustainable solutions can be built. and local people empowered once again to This sounds simple and attractive, but is enor- manage their resource base to meet their needs. mously difficult to achieve in practice. It requires This is an uncomfortable message for develop- a very different approach to planning, starting ment planners in both the First and Third with an analysis of the problem which is based on Worlds, as the corollary of the empowerment of the relationship between biomass fuel use and the poor is a diminishing of their power, but it is the local production system as a whole. It also one which they must come to terms with if requires a very different relationship between the development planning is to achieve the oft- institutions of the state and the local community. declared goals of economic progress with en- The key to understanding the localized nature vironmental sustainability. If these basic factors of fuelwood situations is the question of access to are recognized and integrated into the formula- local biomass resources, and the basis from which tion and execution of interventions, then there is sustainable interventions must be built is the hope for a sustainable fuelwood future -- even in knowledge, actions and priorities of the local an area as poor and crowded as Dhanusha community. The planning system must recognize District in Nepal.

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