The choice of particular energy forms in the mountains is the result of fuel availability and access to particular energy resources and technologies at afford­able prices. In this context, forest is and will remain the mainstay of energy sources in the mountain areas in the foreseeable future. Figure 5.2 shows the forest and energy linkages in the region. The contribution of fuelwood amounts to more than 80 per cent of the total energy requirement in Nepal and Bhutan, 66 per cent in India, 52 per cent in Pakistan and 29 per cent in China within the HKH region.

There is evidence of increasing use of biomass resources other than fuelwood such as agriculture residues and animal dung as a source of energy in the HKH region. Table 5.3 indicates the use of these other fuels in the region. Their use emerges mainly as the result of a decreasing supply of fuelwood, and depicts the stress under which forest resources are. The shift is also due to the low affordability of the mountain people (see also Figure 5.1). The transition from biomass to commercial energy forms is at a slow pace in the region due to price and nonprice factors as well as nonsuitability of technological options and lack of appropriate forest management.

Forest resources are being extracted far beyond their regenerative capacity in many parts of the HKH region. The few exceptions are isolated pockets such as eastern mountains of India and western part of Nepal, and places where accessibility limits the extraction of fuelwood and timber. Availability of forest resources within the HKH region of China is high (1.2 ha per capita) but, because of the incon­venience of transportation, people tend to use fuelwood available locally. This has

resulted in overexploitation of nearby forests. If explored on a sustainable basis, the fuelwood from the accessible forest area meets only about 35 per cent of the total demand for fuelwood.

There is a substantial difference in recorded forest area and actual forest cover in the hills and mountains of India, whereas the difference between recorded and actual forest cover is only about 2 per cent if aggregated for the whole HKH region in the country (see Table 5.4). The per capita forest area available in the HKH region of India amounts to 0.6 ha, while it is 0.85 ha in the eastern part and 0.32 ha in the western part of the HKH. The situation differs widely if examined at district or state level. For example, the availability of forest area per capita in Arunachal Pradesh is 7.9 ha, 0.34 ha in Jammu and Kashmir and 0.38 ha in Uttarakhand, while it is 1.3 ha in Uttarkashi and 0.23 ha in Nainital district.

The per capita accessible forest area of Nepal amounts to 0.37 ha in the mountains, and 0.29 ha in the hills. In terms of mapped forest area (i. e. includes area for potential forest regeneration), 0.93 ha per capita is available in the mountains, and 0.58 ha in the hills. The estimated quantity of fuelwood supply that can be obtained on a sustainable basis in Nepal amounts to 7.5 million air-dried tons (i. e. 366 kg per capita), instead of the average fuelwood consumption of 640 kg per capita. However, the fuelwood balance at district level shows different patterns. Fuelwood is in surplus in some of the districts in Western Nepal, while it is in short supply in central hills.

Public forest in the mountain areas of Pakistan (76 per cent of total forest area in Pakistan) provides most fuelwood required for domestic and industrial purposes of the country. About 14 per cent of the Northern mountains of Pakistan are covered by forest, though a significant variation from 15 to 60 per cent in forest cover is observed, when analyzed at the district level. The total sustainable supply of fuel — wood in Pakistan is less than 40 per cent of the total demand but, in the fuelwood supply and demand balance for the Northern mountains, supply exceeds demand by 1.6 times.