In the hill areas, the traditional systems of dependence on forest products like fuel for their households and fodder for their livestock has an important bearing on the status of Himalayan watersheds. The population of livestock is therefore also significant. The fuel and fodder requirements of the hill people are important routine activities for which women/children spend long hours of their day-to-day life.

A study conducted in 45 villages in the central Himalayas assesses the current status of van panchayats, an old institution of decentralised forest governance. It finds that locals are indifferent to the administrative jurisdiction of the forest in the course of their resource extraction activities. There is no quantitative evidence that they are exercising restraint while accessing and using locally governed forests. Collective rule violation appears to be common. May 3-9, 2008

Forests are extensively used by rural people for subsistence in the tropics. Biomass extraction (like grazing, fuelwood collection and collection of non-timber forest produce) is arguably the most widespread form of anthropogenic pressure in developing countries like India. Persistent extraction may alter forest structure and composition, which in turn may affect the resident forest fauna.

The present study on socio-economic and socio-ecological aspects of Sambalpur Forest Division of Orissa reveals that forests play an important role in the economy of the State in terms of contribution to state revenue, State Domestic Product as well as dependence of people for livelihood. The people living adjacent to the reserved forests of Sambalpur Forest Division (pre-reorganised) are heavily dependent on these forests. Although the nominal forest cover of the state continues to remain unchanged one notices a gradual decline in the effective forest cover of the state. Feb 2008

World Health Organization (who) says over 3 billion people use solid fuels, including biomass

We used a semistructured social survey of 590 households in 37 villages along the southern boundary of Kaziranga National Park and World Heritage Site, Assam, India in late 2000 and early 2001 to assess resource use and demographic and socioeconomic conditions.