This case study deals with the different conditions of domestic energy supplies in mountainous habitats of the Northern Areas of Pakistan, i.e. the Astor Subdivision and the Rupal Gah in particular. The special focus is on the analysis of interrelations between locally accessible natural resources and the housholds' energy needs as part of their reproductive land use strategies. The concept of sustainability provides the central tool for combining aspects of human-geographical research on high mountains as well as energy studies and concepts of rural and integrated regional development. Here, energy supplies are looked upon as a central component of the households' fulfilment of basic needs. They also serve as starting point for the assessment of the sustainability of the local population's resource management strategies. These strategies and their spatial, vertical, and seasonal patterns are based on the contribution of natural resources as well as on traditional and legally fixed utilization rights. The analysis of the current patterns of forest utilization and its sustainability is embedded in this complex set of physical and socio-cultural aspects. The analysis also includes the households' and village communities' scope for activities, regarding legal and political options and restrictions, demographic development trends as well as exogenous processes of socio-economic transformation, which lead to more dynamic interactions between humans and nature.
