ASSESSMENT OF FUELWOOD DEMAND AND SUPPLY WITH ITS FOREST DEGRADATION CHALLENGES IN NAGELLE TOWN, SOUTHEASTERN ETHIOPIA

<strong>ABSTRACT</strong>: Fuelwood and woody biomass are the most important forest product in Ethiopia. The high demand for wood as a source of household energy has been the cause of serious deforestation which in turn is fuelled by an ever-increasing population. Therefore, the major concern of this study was to quantify fuelwood demand and address the uncertainty surrounding fuelwood consumption. The study was conducted in Nagelle town, Liban district, OromiaRegional State, to assess fuelwood supply demand and its forest degradation challenges mainly following the ever-rising apprehensions about growing stock and any contributions thatfuelwood use may make to regional environmental degradation. Data was collected through structured questionnaires to know the socio-economic characteristics, causes of deforestation, and preferences of tree species for fuelwoodand service sectors survey by structured interview. The analysis of data was done by using Analysis of Variance and multiple linear regressions. Asa result, the average fuelwood demand at household levels in the area was estimated at 199.2 M3 per year while in service sectors the fuelwood demand was estimated at 145M3and amount of fuelwood supplied to the town was 78212.2M3per year. At the study site, fuelwood consumption a was significant (p&lt;0.05), variable across the income categories. Similarly, energy consumption was also significantly different among household income levels. The major fuel wood supply in Nagelle towns was Retailersandwholesalerswhichcontributed78%and7.8%respectively.Fuelwoodpriceanddistan cefromfuelwoodsourcehad a significantly positive linear relationship with fuel wood consumption at (p &lt;0.05). From the result, fuel wood is the second cause of deforestation next to agricultural expansion. The study implied that fuel wood Consumption has an impact on the remaining forest in the country as a whole and in the surrounding areas of Nagelle town. Therefore, improving the end-use efficiency in the use of traditional fuels through improving the efficiency of the existing cooking stoves and introducing new and more efficient stoves is forwarded for energy policy.