This paper examines how forest-dependent communities experience ecological precarity and engage with development interventions in two ecologically sensitive regions of India: The Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve (NBR) in Tamil Nadu and the Sundarbans Biosphere Reserve (SBR) in West Bengal. Interviews were mediated by Keystone Foundation in the Nilgiris and Tagore Society for Rural Development (TSRD) in the Sundarbans. Research analysis is guided by one core research question: “How do forest‑dependent communities in the NBR and SBR experience ecological precarity through their livelihoods, and how do they perceive and engage with development interventions intended to address these conditions?” Alongside the core research questions are sub-questions to examine how socio-political identity, spatial autonomy, and power dynamics shape these experiences.

Findings suggest that development interventions have provided only partial relief without altering the governance structures that produce precarity. In the NBR, Keystone Foundation's Forest Rights Act advocacy has improved the Irula communities' economic autonomy and strengthened their claims to tribal lands. In the SBR, participants described the decline of TSRD, and the structural inapplicability of the Forest Rights Act has left communities without meaningful legislative or institutional recourse. Across both sites, colonial forest governance logic continues to reproduce precarity for the communities most dependent on forest resources, whilst also shaping intersectional experiences of living in these biospheres.