Climate change impacts on non-timber forest products: NTFP-dependent community responses from India

ABSTRACT We investigated the impact of climate change on non-timber forest products in 62 villages of Khunti district, Jharkhand, India by employing structured questionnaires to collect primary data from 387 NTFP collectors. For contextualising the primary data results, focus group discussions and transect walks were conducted. Secondary data (temperature and rainfall from 1980 to 2018) supplemented the examination of climate change impacts over time. The findings revealed that an increase in maximum temperature has decreased lac (Kerria lacca) yield significantly by 31.60 tonnes/year. Changing climate has degraded the quality of NTFPs which has direct impacts on NTFP-based livelihoods, with the sale price of lac falling from 350 to 150 INR/kg, mahua from 22 to 20 INR/kg, and tamarind from 22 to 18 INR/kg in recent years. The majority of respondents believed that infrastructure development (98.7%), forest cover loss (94.83%) had caused shifts in climatic trends. 22% of the respondents believed that not taking into account their indigenous understanding of climate change in institutional processes was one of the challenges they face for adaptation and coping mechanisms. This study, provides strong evidence of climate change impacts on NTFPs and offers recommendations for timely actions that should be taken by the concerned stakeholders.