Abstract
Deforestation is a major cause of biodiversity loss in Asia. Using fine-resolution satellite imagery we assessed the change in forest cover of a state-managed Reserved Forest located in India’s Eastern Himalaya biodiversity hot-spot. Thirty-two square kilometers of forest cover was lost from 2013 and 2017 with a 5% decline in total forest area over four years. Hornbills are a key functionally important species found in the area. We therefore assessed the habitat around 29 hornbill nest trees in this Reserved Forest and estimated that there was a loss of 35% of forest cover from 2011 to 2019. We identify illegal logging (despite a ban by the Supreme Court of India) as the main driver that is depleting forest cover within this important area. Our results highlight the ongoing threats to biologically-rich forests and the need for urgent measures to halt this loss. We suggest that this study has practical implications for the governance of non-PA state-managed forests in Arunachal Pradesh. The ongoing deforestation appears to be due to organized crime, institutional inadequacy from a combination of limited resources, bureaucratic apathy, and/or ambiguity in use and ownership of forest land compared to other community forests which appear to have robust governance systems.
Footnotes
This version of the paper is revised based on comments received from a peer-review in Peerage of Science. The introduction has been shortened and discussion has been revised/improved. Methods have been rewritten for greater clarity. Figure 1 has been improved based on reviewer suggestions and Figure 2 has also been modified.
