Valuation of Coastal and Marine Ecosystem Services in India: Macro Assessment

Abstract

Coastal and marine ecosystems provide a host of services that are of vital importance to human well-being that include provisioning services (e.g. food, water, raw materials), regulating services (e.g. coastal protection, carbon sequestration), recreational services (e.g . coastal tourism) and habitat services (e.g. nursery services). The aim of this study is to value, in monetary units, coastal and marine ecosystem services in India. The reasons are: the accounting for ecosystem service losses in terms of the benefits foregone to human beings by way of destruction and degradation of the ecosystem for appropriate decisions and actions and build a model that comprehensively values coastal and marine ecosystem services in India. The total value of the provisioning services estimated amounts to Rs. 383 billion. The total value of the regulating services estimated is roughly 1.7 times that of the provisioning service value at Rs. 655 billion with a value range of Rs. 561–756 billion. The total coastal recreational value is estimated at Rs. 453 billion. The total value of coastal and marine ecosystem services in India is approximately Rs. 1.5 trillion. This is approximately 3.2 percent of Net National Product (NNP) in 2012-13. The first-cut values of coastal and marine ecosystem services in India reported here could be upwardly revised in due course with improvements in the valuation methodologies as well as inclusion of more ecosystem services.