Biomass,asfuelwood,isoneofthemajorsourcesofenergyinruralareas,especiallyinthemountainousregionsoftheworld.Astheincreasinghumanpopulationexertsmorepressureontheforesttherebyinducinganadverseeffectonthesustainabilityoftheecosystem,whichconsequentlycausesfuelwoodcrisisatalocallevel,thiscrisisisspatio-temporalinnature.Thus,themajorobjectiveofthisstudyistoassessthesustainabilityoffuelwoodatdifferentprobablescenariosatamicrowatershedlevel.ThepresentstudywasconductedinthePhakotwatershed,theTehriGarhwaldistrictofcentralHimalayainIndia,during2006-2008.Basedonthevegetationcompositioninthestudyarea,thenetprimaryproductivity(NPP)valueoftheOakforest,andmixedoakandsalforests,wasusedforthequantificationoffuelwoodavailabilityinevergreenanddeciduousforests,respectively.Thefuelwooddemandwascalculatedonthebasisofseasonalfuelwoodconsumptionvalues.Nineprobablepermutationsforavailability-demandscenariosassumingtheexistenceofhigh(H),low(L)andaverage(A)conditionswereanalyzedforevaluatingthestress.Theavailableannualharvestablefuelwoodinthewatershedisintheminimumandmaximumrangesof2283.28to4066.00tons,respectively,peryearwhereasithasademandof110.76tonsastheminimumto3659tonsasthemaximumannually.Thisshowsthatinthecurrentavailabilitydemandscenario,thewatersheddoesnothavefuelwoodcrisisinthepresentsituationbutneedstomaintainthesustainabilityofthesystem.Basedonourstudy,itisconcludedthat,globally,morespatio-temporalstudyisrequiredtounderstandtheissuesatthelocallevel.
