Ecosystem services valuation of the forests of Arunachal Pradesh State, India

Shashi Kumar and Pradeep Chaudhry

Abstract
Ecosystem services are the outcome of ecosystem functions of the forests benefitting human beings and their economies immensely. Valuation and accounting of ecosystem services emanating from forests is necessary to generate awareness among stakeholders, for green accounting and land use planning. An approximate real worth of the Arunachal Pradesh forests, covering more than 81% of the state's geographical area, has been estimated in the paper. A preliminary and conservative estimate amounting to Rs. 1,518 billion per year about the ecosystem services emanating from the forests of the state has been made which is about 1.7 times the value of the growing stock. There is a need for a detailed study based on primary survey and ground truthing of state’s floral/faunal wealth and water bodies like lakes, rivers and waterfalls/springs assessing accurate magnitude of the ecosystem services emanating from the forests of the state and incorporating them in Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP).

Keywords
Biodiversity conservation, Ecosystem services, Environmental economics.

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References
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