This project involves four forest-dependent villages located in the northern part of the Indo-Myanmar range (IMR) in Senapati District of Manipur. The state’s forests are experiencing an extensive process of forest fragmentation, degradation, and outright deforestation and forest conversion. The management of the forest has suffered due to the expansion and intensification of shifting cultivation as Manipur’s population increased more than eight-fold over the past century. Per capita forestland available in Manipur as part of the ‘Jhum pool’ shrank from 1.26 ha. in 1981 to 0.83 ha. in 1995, with 66% of the forests classified as “open” or degraded.
