The role of Zagros forests in providing fuel wood for forest dwellers (Case study: Kakasharaf rural district of Khorramabad)

Many forest residents in Zagros forests rely on fuel wood to meet their energy needs. Nowadays, firewood consumption in Zagros forests plays an important role in forest degradation, because of the limited capacity of the forest ecosystems and intensity of uses. This research was done for understanding fuelwood uses and their amount in Cheshmeh-Ali village and nomads living in the customary land area of this village in southeast of Khorramabad, Lorestan province, west of Iran. The methodology of this research was ethnography and semi-structured and non-structured interviews. Also meter and diameter tape tools were used for measuring diameters of woods. The results showed that each rural household consumes 24.18 cubic meters of firewood annually. This volume included heating (74%), baking (13%), charcoal making (7%) and bath (6%); also each nomad household in six months accommodation in the area, consumed 10.5 cubic meters of firewood, which included heating and boiling milk and buttermilk (30%), cooking (26%), baking (20%), charcoal making (13%), bath (6%) and heating the butter to make ghee (4%). The percentage of fuel wood varies between rural and nomad communities, which is related to lifestyle of these communities. Making natural gas distribution network in the area and promoting renewable energy usage like solar and wind energies could reduce the amount of forest woods used for energy.