The Hindu : National : Study: value of forests should be recognised and compensated

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Monday, Dec 24, 2007
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Study: value of forests should be recognised and compensated

Special Correspondent

Valuation, a balanced approach for conservation of ecosystems
Forests’ contribution reflected in SDP is only 3.50 per cent

NEW DELHI: The forests in Uttarakhand have been valued at $2.4 billion or Rs.107 billion per year in terms of services they provide to the people. This needs to be recognised and compensated, says a new report.

The average value of $1,150 per hectare per year for the services provided needs to be reflected in our economic planning and compensated for, according to the study ‘Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Forest Governance, in Uttarakhand, as a scoping study,’ brought out by LEAD India and its partner organisation, Central Himalayan Environmental Association (Uttarakhand). The report evaluates and quantifies the services rendered by the Himalayan ecosystem in the State, and is the first comprehensive collation of scientific information around various Ecosystem Services using mainly secondary sources.

Ecosystem Services is defined as a wide range of conditions and processes through which natural ecosystems, and the species that make them up, sustain and fulfil human life. As many as 32 such services, including carbon sequestration, climate management, hydrological regulation, timber, soil conservation, pollination and other non-timber forest produces have been identified so far.

The report described valuation as a balanced approach for conservation of ecosystems that calls to conserve whatever remains and restore it in areas where it is possible, rather than spending time and resources on selecting biodiversity rich areas.

Despite making considerable contribution in Uttarakhand’s economic and ecological systems, forests do not get proper recognition for their contribution in the State Domestic Product (SDP) in the absence of proper valuation and lack of information to decision-makers.

Its contribution reflected in the SDP is only 3.50 per cent (Rs.5,109.6 million) as only few goods and services from these forests are marketed and thus accounted in the current calculus, the report suggests.

Uttarakhand is rich in endemic biodiversity and the forests provide ecosystem services of high magnitude to the Indo-Gangetic Plain in terms of regulated water supply and nutrients rich soil through its river connections, thereby sustaining the livelihoods of about 500 million people inhabiting the area. Livelihoods for more than 5 million mountain-dwellers are also mainly forest-based.

The study further says that whatever success the people in mountains have achieved in conserving their forests, they have been able to do so without any access to modern energy sources.

From equity point of view alone, the poor people in Uttarakhand should be given support to have alternatives to biomass fuel.

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