Treading a Conservation Path - Community Reserves in Zunheboto, Nagaland

As many as one-third of Nagaland's villages have created community-conserved areas (CCAs) and impose various regulations on hunting and felling in these CCAs. Some of the more well-known examples include Sendenyu and Khonoma, as well as the spectacular conservation success of Pangti village in Wokha district that has completely stopped the slaughter of the migratory Amur falcons. However, in a land where hunting is rampant and widespread, where the timber mafia has taken root and where wildlife is hard to see, villages in Zunheboto are relatively unique in that they have banned all hunting and fishing, not only in their community-conserved areas but in the entire forested landscape, at great cost to themselves.