Biomass bioenergy is an essential source of energy in many parts of rural India. Studies show a large scale fuelwood extraction from the local forests has resulted in the degradation of forest structure and composition. A detailed study on fuel wood species diversity and its utilization pattern is lacking for the Indian Eastern Himalayan region. The present study aims to inventorize the fuelwood species diversity and its utilization pattern among the homegarden owners in the Terai zone of West Bengal, India. A purposive, multi-stage random sampling was followed to select 100 homegardens for data collection. A total of 41 species belonging to 35 genera and 24 families were recorded during the study. The most frequent and abundant fuel wood species were Sapindus detergens and Machilus fasciculata. The average daily fuel wood consumption per household was 5.4 kg. On an annual basis, this total amount of fuelwood was equivalent to 102 m³ of deforested wood and, on combustion; it emitted 319 t CO₂, 2.3 t CO and 1.3 t CH₄. The homegardens of the study area have a great potential to ensure the year-round supply of fuelwood to the households without additional cost and act as a tool to conserve the forest ecosystem. These micro-landscapes within the agricultural or human dominated landscapes around the homestead will not only serve as corridors of biodiversity conservation through habitat connectivity but also will increase heterogeneity of forest deficient landscapes particularly in the tropics satisfying small land holder’s domestic energy needs while, avoiding deforestation and thus offsetting carbon emission.

生物质能是印度农村许多地区必不可少的能源。研究表明，从当地森林大规模提取薪材已导致森林结构和组成退化。印度东喜马拉雅地区缺乏关于薪材物种多样性及其利用模式的详细研究。本研究旨在盘点印度西孟加拉邦 Terai 地区家庭花园业主的薪材物种多样性及其利用模式。随后进行了有目的的多阶段随机抽样，以选择 100 个家庭花园进行数据收集。研究期间共记录了41种，隶属于35属24科。最常见和最丰富的薪柴物种是无患子和马奇鲁斯 fasciculata. 每户平均每日燃木消耗量为 5.4 公斤。每年，薪柴的总量相当于 102 m ³的砍伐木材和燃烧时的木材；它排放了 319 吨 CO ₂、2.3 吨 CO 和 1.3 吨 CH ₄. 研究区的家庭花园具有巨大的潜力，可以在不增加成本的情况下确保全年向家庭供应薪柴，并作为保护森林生态系统的工具。宅基地周围以农业或人类为主的景观中的这些微景观不仅将通过栖息地连通性作为生物多样性保护的走廊，而且还将增加森林缺乏景观的异质性，特别是在热带地区，满足小土地所有者的国内能源需求，同时避免森林砍伐从而抵消碳排放。