Fuelwood profile of the mapulana of ehlanzeni district in Mpumalanga province, South Africa

African countries depend on fuelwood for their livelihood strategies and its scarcity has been on the rise with time. The increase of population size, unemployment and urbanization are among the reasons causing fuelwood scarcity. A semi-structured questionnaire was used of the elderly, community adults and youth through snow ball sampling to collect data. The study has identified sixteen tree species utilized as fuelwood and twenty-eight tree species utilized as alternative fuelwood. The family represented by most of the species is Fabaceae. The state of fuelwood species preference differed within the communities. The preference in utilization of naturalized over native species as fuelwood is motivated by the shortage of native fuelwood species within villages. The ignorance of community members on aspects of unsustainable harvesting and adherence to rules placed by traditional leaders has led to the destruction of vegetation around most of Mapulana villages. Villagers have therefore resulted in purchasing fuelwood for their livelihood.