Social entrepreneurship through forest bioresidue briquetting: An approach to mitigate forest fires in Pine areas of Western Himalaya, India

ICT Platform-Enabled Socio-Economic Ecosystem in Himalayan Villages of India: The Case of a Forest Protection and Renewable Energy Production Project

“…Previous studies have recommended manufacturing bio-briquettes from waste, dry, and fallen pine needles with the involvement of villagers (Joshi and Sharma 2014). Further, Joshi et al (2015) suggested ways to implement a socio-economic model to manufacture and sell these briquettes as a greener and environment-friendly energy substitute for wood and coal in the open market and thereby fostering social-entrepreneurship (Joshi et al 2015). Such a socioeconomic solution, if successful, will achieve the twin objectives of forest protection and renewable energy production.…”

“…It falls in a mountainous region with extensive and dense coverage of the pine trees forest, one of the leading sources of forest fires in Uttarakhand. Villagers living in the selected villages have limited income opportunities and survive on forest resources to meet part of their daily needs (Joshi et al 2015;Joshi and Sharma 2014). The villagers who volunteered in the NMHS project were given portable, manually operated briquette machines to produce briquettes, a renewable energy substitute for coal and wood.…”

“…The villagers who volunteered in the NMHS project were given portable, manually operated briquette machines to produce briquettes, a renewable energy substitute for coal and wood. The produced briquettes had higher calorific content at a substantially lower cost (Joshi et al 2015). The briquettes were sold to local and nearby hotel owners.…”