India moving a rank up to the 9th position in terms of total forest area globally, as per the Global Forest Resources Assessment (GFRA), 2025, released by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Bali on Wednesday, is good news. There is, however, little room for complacency when it comes to an ecologically fragile state like Arunachal Pradesh. Alarming loss of forest cover in the border state poses a tougher challenge for India to retain or further improve its GFRA ranking. Rapid loss of forest cover driven by illegal felling and diversion of forest for infrastructure development also increases conservation challenges of important indicator species like the snow leopard. This species reflects the health and robustness of mountain ecosystems, including glacial watersheds that feed the rivers and sustain life and livelihoods along the course of these rivers. Official data shows that during the four-year period from April 2021 to March 2025, the Central Government accorded the prior approval for the diversion of 6,561 hectares of forest land in Arunachal Pradesh under the provisions of Van (Sanrakshan Evam Samvardhan) Adhiniyam, 1980, for undertaking various infrastructure developments in the state. Assessing the status of compensatory afforestation carried out to offset the loss of forest cover due to diversion for development is crucial to maintain the regulatory oversight. The raising of compensatory afforestation is an essential condition to be complied with by the respective states or union territories, and the provisions under the Van (Sanrakshan Evam Samvardhan) Rules, 2023, stipulate that the work of compensatory afforestation has to start within two years of the issue of the order of diversion of the corresponding forest land. Ensuring seasonal plantation calls for simplifying the mechanism for the release of funds for compensatory afforestation so that works are not affected by procedural delays. The fact Arunachal Pradesh lost the highest area of its forest cover in two years between 2021 and 2023 signals a worrying trend and underscores the need for transparency in compensatory afforestation, enabling forest and environment experts to carry out pragmatic assessments of existing conservation policies and practices. Strengthening the forest surveillance against illegal tree felling is also pivotal to check degradation of forest ecology in the state for offsetting climate change impact on mountain landscapes, biodiversity and indicator species like snow leopards. Arunachal Pradesh possesses India’s second-highest level of genetic diversity. Although occupying only 2.5% of India’s geographical area, the state occupies a significant place in terms of floral and faunal biodiversity as well as endemism, according to ‘Arunachal Pradesh State Biodiversity Strategy and Actions: A People’s Plan’ for the period 2025-2035 prepared by the Arunachal Pradesh Biodiversity Board (APBB) in collaboration with WWF-India. Identification of 36 snow leopards in the state across their habitat spread over 14,156 sq. km indicates both the importance of ecological priorities and addressing conservation challenges posed by climate change impact, land use patterns and development pressures to meet aspirational growth. Sustained monitoring of the snow leopard population is critical to ensure real-time assessment of their habitat, which in turn is essential to assess the overall ecological health of the state. The Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan sounded the caution that “rapid road construction and widening of roads does damage the areas and often cause landslides that destroy patches of forests.” It points out that the biggest contributor to Arunachal Pradesh’s carbon emissions is the Agriculture, Forestry and Other Land Use sector, primarily due to ongoing deforestation mainly for infrastructure and development. Persistent disconnect between development priorities and climate action strategy proves costly and risks triggering unwarranted irreversible ecological loss. The action plan rightly insists that adoption of participatory approaches, enabling policies and guidelines, research and documentation, communication outreach and public awareness need to be prioritised for conservation-orientated actions. However, people’s participation and contribution to these initiatives will require decoding the highly technical information for broader understanding through examples that relate to their daily lives, agricultural practices and livelihood strategies. The unclassed forests of the state are under community custodianship. The traditional knowledge and wisdom of indigenous communities can play a crucial role in forest and biodiversity conservation. The APSBSAP document has acknowledged the importance of the Community Conserved Areas in the state, which are “areas set aside by local communities through their own initiatives to protect and secure natural resources in community-owned or managed land mainly for conserving water sources, cultural and traditional significance, subsistence use, as well as livelihoods and wellbeing.” The approach by the APBB to make the biodiversity strategy and action plan “A People’s Plan” is laudable and is in the right direction. The real challenge lies in actually making it inclusive and participatory. A bottom-up approach rooted in community participation, creating a repository of traditional knowledge systems that makes environmentally sustainable use of local biodiversity and natural resources with the help of local communities, can help overcome bottlenecks faced in top-down execution of official plans and programmes.