A Socio-Economic Survey of the Singchung Bugun Village Community Reserve, Arunachal Pradesh, India

Community-managed lands often lack vital baseline information that assesses both natural resource dependence, as well as perceptions of power, involvement and support in management. We interviewed 171 house-holds from 16 villages in the buffer of the Sin gchung Bugun Village Community Reserve (SBVCR) in Arunachal Pradesh, India. In total, 68% stated that SBVCR would be beneficial to wildlife and in terms of ecosystem services, and 45% expressed support for its formation. However, 76% identified multiple threats to the Reserve, including forest fires, h unting and agricultural expansion. Different parts of the Reserve were identified as being important for resource extraction, non-extractive uses and the need to be di sturbance-free (with varying overlaps across these areas), thus calling for adaptive management.