Protected area (PA) networks help in maintaining biodiversity in large compact forest areas. However, stringent rules that exist around PAs restrict access to local communities who may be dependent on forest-based ecosystem services. Contrary to this, the increasing demands on biomass from settlements, agricultural intensification, infrastructural developments and other human activities have resulted in the fragmentation of the forests lying outside PA networks, subsequently leading to biodiversity erosion. These changes have also put severe pressure on these forests and dramatically altered their composition, structure and ecological characteristics. These smaller and increasingly isolated fragments of natural habitats are embedded in a growing sea of agricultural lands, pastures and urbanized areas. While these forest fragments may not support large charismatic animals, they serve as a stepping stone for species in transit moving between two PAs. Several studies in the tropics have shown that these forest fragments support a large diversity and number of insects, birds and small mammals. They have been found effective in sustaining ecosystem services such as pollination, dispersal, clean air, drinking water, microclimate regulation, in addition to providing tangible goods such as fuelwood, fodder, edible plants, etc. that meet their daily requirements. As these ecosystem services help in maintaining human wellbeing, addressing conservation issues on domains outside formal PAs has the potential to ensure biodiversity protection as well as human wellbeing, which cannot be achieved by setting aside forests as PAs alone. This study integrates ecology both at the local and landscape levels through ground assessments, remote sensing and social surveys, to investigate the role of forest fragments in providing ecosystem services to local communities in Sikkim Himalayas.