Forest ecosystem services contribution to food security of vulnerable group: a case study from India

The main objective of the study is to analyze the linkages between ecosystem services and food security of the Soliga tribes in India. This study mainly focuses on four dimensions of ecosystem services, (i) production and providing of wild food and water resources, (availability); (ii) rural livelihood, employment opportunities, and income generation (accessibility); and (iii) utilization of ecosystem services, persons are capable of increasing energy and nutrition from food (utilization); (iv) adequate and enough food is accessible, reachable, and utilizable on a dependable, sustainable basis (stability). This study has used primary data for analyzing the linkages between ecosystem services and food security of (Soligas tribe in Karnataka) 210 households were interviewed in South India. The results of the study is found that forest provisioning ecosystem services major role in their everyday food and nutrition. The main policy implication of the study is integrating ecosystem services and food security for sustainable agricultural production of tribal communities.