Willingness to Pay for Restoration of Natural Ecosystem: A Study of Sundarban Mangroves by Contingent Valuation Approach

Abstract

The Sundarbans in India is the largest river delta and also the largest estuarine mangrove forest in the world. The Indian Sundarbans has a forest area of 4263 sq. km (Zoological Survey of India, Annual Report 2009-10). It became a UNESCO world heritage site in 1997 (UNESCO, WHC 2012). Being situated in the intertidal zone, inundated by tides twice a day, the mangroves possess a range of features which make them uniquely adaptable to their stressful environment. The mangrove swamp provides an ambience of food and shelter to a wide range of both land and aquatic organisms. It acts as nutrient stock for both esturine and marine ecosystems supporting local and commercial yields (Camilee, 1998). The mangroves forest acts as a nursery for many fish species all along the Eastern coast of India (Zoological Survey of India, Annual Report 2009-10). Apart from that, mangroves act as a natural buffer against cyclones and storms. Mangroves protect the vulnerable embankment from tidal surges and act as bio shield against storms (Sathirathi and Barbier, 2001). Most of the people depend on Sundarban ecosystem for their livelihood and sustenance through fishing, collection of honey and fuelwood/timber (Zoological Survey of India, Annual Report 2009-10). It is an example of a community living in a balance with surrounding mangrove forest, upon which it depends for subsistence and livelihoods. These people are poor and have fewer years of education, employment and income, therefore their dependence on mangrove is greater (Hussain and Badola, 2010). Irrespective of many benefits, mangroves are under intense pressure from competing resource uses, increased commercial activities and urban development demands. Every year mangroves are being destroyed during prawn seed collection by the villagers or eaten up by their domesticated animals. Such activities can, therefore, have a drastic negative effect on the well-being of mangrove