Economic Valuation of Mangrove Ecosystems of Kerala, India

Mangroves are invaluable treasure of our biodiversity with immense ecological and economic significance. The study was conducted in the mangrove areas of Ernakulam and Kannur districts of Kerala. These two districts accounted for nearly 65 per cent of the mangroves of the state. The study was based on primary and secondary data. The primary data was gathered from 480 respondents belonging to four identified stakeholder groups (residents, fishermen, paddy farmers and general public), selected through simple random sampling method. Data was collected through personal interview using structured pretested interview schedule along with direct observation. Four stakeholder groups of the mangrove ecosystem in the study area were residents living close to mangroves, fishermen, paddy farmers and general public. The economic valuation of ecological benefits of mangroves was attempted employing the Contingent Valuation Method. The respondents expressed their willingness to contribute towards conservation both in cash and kind (cash payment and manual participation as labor and as volunteer in awareness programs) and in combination. The average WTP expressed by the respondents was `2308/annum the range being `50–28,870. The TEV of the mangrove ecosystem of the state was thus `117,947 million, which was 0.14 per cent of the GSDP (2011-12). Journal of Environmental Professionals Sri Lanka: 2015 Vol. 4 No. 1: 1-1