Classification and management of community forests in Indian Eastern Himalayas: implications on ecosystem services, conservation and livelihoods

Table 2 Qualitative assessment of diverse values of varied local forests as perceived by the Adi tribe

Forest typology	Subsistence value^1,+1		Economic value^1,+2		Cultural value^1,+3		Ecological value^1,+4		Sum of ranks	Rank of sum	Indicative indicators for valuation²
Forest typology	Score	Rank	Score	Rank	Score	Rank	Score	Rank	Sum of ranks	Rank of sum	Indicative indicators for valuation²
Morang	10	I	6	V	10	I	10	I	8	I	1
Regpi	9	II	8	III	9	II	9	II	9	II	2
Monku	4	VII	7	IV	6	V	7	IV	20	VII	3
Mosam	7	IV	8	III	8	III	8	III	13	IV	4
Sirung	7	IV	6	V	7	IV	8	III	16	V	5
Homegardens	8	III	8	III	7	IV	9	II	12	III	6
Orange garden	6	V	10	I	5	VI	5	VI	18	VI	7
Pineapple gardens	5	VI	9	II	4	VII	5	VI	21	VIII	8
Traditional tea-garden	8	III	7	IV	5	VI	6	V	18	VI	9
Village boundary forests	4	VII	3	VI	6	V	7	IV	22	IX	10

The scoring was done on 1 to 10 scale on consensus basis applying FGD (focus group discussions) with key knowledge holders (average 12 member) on four parameters (subsistence to ecological values) against a particular forest typology
¹The scoring of value of a particular parameter was based a range of biophysical, cultural and other indicators
²The list of indicative indicators thematically patternized (Braun and Clarke 2006; Stringer et al. 2017) to assign the scores as provided in Additional file 1: Table S.5 in S1
⁺¹A forest which is often used in both normal and abnormal conditions for survival
⁺²When a particular forest is accessed for collection of species (plant and animals) specially for market sale
⁺³When a forest is accessed more for fulfilling needs of hunting, fishing, spiritual acts, accessing to meet needs of special foods, etc.
⁺⁴When a forest components (plant, animals, soil, water, etc.) are treated to play critical roles in conservation of not only biodiversity, but also maintaining tangible and non-tangible ecosystem services (e.g., water for irrigation and drinking, maintain endangered and rare species)