The numerous islands constituting the littoral forests of the Sundarbans have been formed by river-borne silts of the Ganges and the Brahmaputra, the two main rivers of Bangladesh. The forests lie between latitudes 21°30’N and 22°31’N and between longitudes 89°E and 90°E.

The productive forest lands of 939820 acres of the Sundarbans produce only 15 million cubic feet of wood per annum at the present (1971)-one acre produces only 16 eft of timber per acre per annum. This poor yield is perhaps due to the inclusion of varied crops under one management plan, an improper management system, ill supervision and the complete reliance on nature for regeneration. The present (1971) poor yield of 16 eft of timber per acre per annum may still go down if proper attention is not given to restocking the forests under an efficient system of management instead of the current selection system.

At least two of the main littoral species, sundri and gewa can be managed in even-aged stands.

The Bangladesh Energy Study, sponsored by the Planning Commission and published a year ago, reviewed the estimates and surveys made of fuelwood consumption and requirements in the country. It concluded that the consumption of domestic firewood and other forms of vege.tativc fuels is unknown.
Since the use of wood as fuel far exceeds other uses in volume importance a proper study is now considered necessary.

The paper describes the main physical, economic and statistical determinants of fuelwood consumption in Bangladesh. It proceeds to describe survey methods and strategy for determining this statistic. Supply estimates are then briefly described.