This research study is being undertaken as part of the University of Bern’s Centre for Development and Environment’s TrafoStream project, “Reconciling People, Profit and Planet: Corporate and Community Stewardship of Ecosystem Resilience for Food Security.” It contributes specifically to Work Package 2, which focuses on understanding community realities in land-based food systems.

The purpose of the micro-research is to document how Naga communities are responding to growing tensions between customary ecosystem stewardship and commercial agricultural pressures. It will examine how traditional land management systems, including shifting cultivation and communal fallow arrangements, are being affected by the expansion of cash crops and increasing tendencies toward private landholding.

The scope of the study includes understanding community experiences, institutional responses, and emerging risks to food security, biodiversity, and ecosystem resilience. The findings will inform a larger cross-border research proposal and contribute to broader policy discussions on sustainable food system governance in Southeast Asia.