The village council and student union are actively involved in conservation work in Penkim. In the year 2020, Penkim residents had approved various government departments’ request to conduct ecological and geological studies in their community forest. However, these studies are yet to begin. The residents and council are now waiting for this research to guide them to institute new policies/refine existing ones in their community forest.
Once in a year, typically in winter, a general session is held to discuss, rectify and introduce new rules and regulations. The village council and students union have been actively involved in conservation work for decades. Recently, new policies have been passed by the students union with seasonal bans on harvesting birds.
Societies in Nagaland reserve the right to practice customary laws, which differ among tribes and even different villages. However, at the village level the apex governing body is the village council. The village council is made up of gaon burrahs (village elders) and their elected council members, led by the elected council chairman. Historically, women have been excluded from decision making and hold no place in the village council in most Naga societies.
The Yimkhiung Akherü Arihako (YAA) is the apex Yimkhiung students’ union. In 2006 and 2007 they instituted two acts to ban the hunting of rare and endangered species to be enacted in all Yimkhiung occupied villages and jurisdictions.