India, June 18: The Indian School of Business (ISB) has called for conservation policies to move beyond forest protection alone and address the socio-economic conditions of forest-dependent communities. The findings of a new study published in the Nature Sustainability Journal- “Advancing Biodiversity Through Poverty Solutions,” reveal that poverty reduction and access to clean, affordable energy are critical to safeguarding biodiversity in tropical forests. Attached is the report for ready reference.
The study, co-authored by Professor Ashwini Chhatre, Executive Director, Bharti Institute of Public Policy, ISB; Nabin Pradhan of the Pulte Institute for Global Development, University of Notre Dame; Inés Ibáñez of the School for Environment and Sustainability, University of Michigan; and Apurva Duddu of the Yale School of the Environment, Yale University, among others, is based on more than two decades of field data from 322 community-managed forests across 15 countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. The study examines how poverty, energy dependence, governance systems, and land-use practices influence biodiversity outcomes in tropical forest landscapes.
The findings show that forests located in areas with higher population density and larger concentrations of poor households experienced significant declines in tree species richness, with dominant tree species particularly affected. Communities with greater dependence on forests for fuelwood also exhibited the strongest associations with biodiversity loss, highlighting energy vulnerability as a major long-term threat to forest health.
“For too long, global conservation frameworks have treated environmental protection and human development as separate, competing goals,” said Professor Ashwini Chhatre, Executive Director, Bharti Institute of Public Policy, ISB. “Our findings challenge this: in human-dominated tropical landscapes, poverty solutions are biodiversity solutions. Protecting forests requires investment in the socio-economic well-being of forest-dependent communities, not just stricter legal boundaries or governance enforcement”, he added.
The study also challenges common assumptions about the relationship between agriculture and conservation. It found that greater reliance on subsistence crops was associated with higher tree species richness, suggesting that diversified, localised farming systems can coexist with and even support forest regeneration.
In contrast, the research found limited evidence that governance structures alone determine biodiversity outcomes. Neither the distinction between community-managed and government-managed forests nor the presence of livestock grazing showed a statistically significant relationship with changes in tree species diversity.
The study arrives at a critical time as governments and international agencies work towards global biodiversity and ecosystem restoration targets for 2030. The findings suggest that conservation strategies focused solely on regulation, protected areas, or governance reforms may be insufficient unless accompanied by efforts to address the underlying drivers of environmental degradation.
The study concludes that effective biodiversity conservation requires a shift from viewing people as pressures on forests to recognising them as essential partners in sustaining ecosystems. The authors note that achieving global conservation goals will depend not only on protecting forests but also on creating pathways for economic opportunity, energy security, and improved quality of life for the communities that depend on them.