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Non-timber forest products (NTFPs) support the livelihoods of 2.77 billion people in the Global South. However, their extraction can have a significant impact on forest ecosystems. To formulate policy and regulatory practices that serve both human livelihood needs and biodiversity conservation goals, we need to understand people’s engagement in NTFP extraction. We identified drivers of NTFP extraction among people living across eight forested landscapes in southwestern India. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 641 households and categorized them along a latent scale of increased self-reported engagement in extraction, coded ‘0’ to ‘3’: 0–households not involved in NTFP extraction (38.68 %); 1–those gathering only fuelwood and leaf litter (8.73 %); 2–those extracting NTFPs solely for domestic use (24.80 %); and 3–those extracting at least one species for commercial purposes (27.76 %). Using an ordinal regression, we found that tribal households, those relying on daily wages and agriculture, and those residing in the same location for > 50 years, have a higher propensity to extract NTFPs. We found differences across geography and states that were not explained by household-level drivers. A majority of respondents perceived a reduction in extraction over the last decade, which they attributed to restricted access to forests, lower resource yield, and alternative livelihood opportunities. We highlight the utility of including, but distinguishing, domestic NTFP extraction from commercial practices in conservation planning. Our findings, complemented by sustainability assessments, can inform context-specific policies that recognize the role of forest products in rural livelihoods, guiding extraction of forest resources in a sustainable manner to support forest-dependent livelihoods while achieving conservation goals. • We interviewed 641 people to assess non-timber forest product (NTFP) extraction. • Tribal identity and agricultural and daily wage livelihoods increased NTFP extraction. • It is important to account for and distinguish domestic and commercial use for policy. • NTFP use has declined due to reduced access, yield, and alternative livelihoods.
Hariharan et al. (Fri,) studied this question.