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Abstract Deforestation is a major cause of biodiversity loss in Asia. India’s biologically-diverse state of Arunachal Pradesh has been undergoing forest loss due to multiple drivers. We assessed the change in forest cover in a state-managed Reserved Forest adjoining an important Protected Area (PA), i.e. the Pakke Tiger Reserve using satellite imagery at a fine spatial resolution. A conservation program to protect three species of endangered hornbills and their nesting habitat outside the PA had been set up in 2011-12. We assessed the effectiveness of the conservation programme in protecting forests. We report a loss of 32 km 2 of forest cover between 2013 and 2017 with a 5% decline in total forest area in four years. In the habitat around the 29 hornbill nest trees we estimated a loss of 35% of forest cover. This loss occurred despite varied efforts through the conservation program and by individuals in the community/government. We identify illegal logging (despite a ban by the Supreme Court of India) as the main driver that is depleting forest cover within this important area. Our results highlight the ongoing threats to biologically-rich forests and the need for urgent measures to halt this loss. We suggest that this study has general practical implications for the governance of non-PA state-managed forests in Arunachal Pradesh. The ongoing deforestation appears to be due to organized crime, institutional inadequacy from a combination of limited resources, bureaucratic apathy, and/or ambiguity in use and ownership of forest land compared to other community forests which appear to have robust governance systems.

Finland has launched a new policy programme (METSO) to enhance conservation of forest biodiversity. In non-industrial private forests, the policy is based on economic incentives and voluntarism on the part of forest owners. While biodiversity conservation is the main target of the policy, social acceptability is considered to be of great importance. This study examined the factors that affect the acceptability of biodiversity conservation contracts among private forest owners, and the amount of compensation needed to keep the forest owners at least as well off as before the contract. Choice experiment method was used to analyse the data that were collected by surveying 3000 Finnish private forest owners. Analysing separately those respondents who were willing to enter into a conservation contract allowed an assessment of the impact of forest owners’ heterogeneity on compensation amount. The results show how the welfare of forest owners shifts when the contract terms are changed. In a base scenario the forest owner was assumed to be the initiator of the contract that would require only small patches of forest to be protected, and would also bind new forest owners over its duration of ten years. For all respondents, the average demand for compensation would be around 224 euros annually. When those always choosing the “no additional conservation” alternative were excluded, the average welfare impact of the base scenario was positive.