Environmental resource consumption pattern in rural Arunachal Pradesh

The paper attempts to study the impact of household-level heterogeneity on the degree and nature of forest dependency under conditions of declining forest cover and institutional diversity. Based on household-level primary data from twelve villages in five districts of Arunachal Pradesh, India, the study brings out the significance of forest resources as a source of livelihoods in the Eastern Himalayan region. The findings suggest that CPRs play a significant role in the livelihoods strategies of the rural poor. Household characteristics such as size of landholdings, education and distance from markets significantly affect forest dependency. Although the absolute amount of forest income derived by the rich is higher, in relative terms the poor depend more on CPRs like forest. It is not only that the extent of forest dependency varies across various income groups, with gradual commercialisation of the forest economy, the nature of dependency on forest across income groups has undergone significant changes as well. The rural rich extract more high-value, commercial forest products, while the poorer households depend on community forests for their basic survival needs. The diversity in the pattern of resource use is one of the key challenges before the local-level institutions governing access to the CPRs.

Research Highlights► This study examines the extent, patterns and determinants of forest consumption under institutional diversity. ► The results show that socio-economic heterogeneity affects the extent and pattern of forest use. ► Commercialisation and rising income inequality alter patterns of forest consumption. ► The better-off households tend to use forests for accumulative purposes. ► The poor primarily use these resources for consumption smoothing and survival.