Valuation of provisioning ecosystem services and household dependency for livelihood: Empirical evidence from a tropical dry forest, India

Abstract

The present study investigated the contribution of provisioning ecosystem services (PES) to the annual incomes of rural households in Vindhyan highlands, India. Household surveys, focus group discussions and key informant interviews were used to collect data, which was stratified by household size. A total of 225 households were chosen for further investigation from three villages adjacent to the forest. We employed one way ANOVA and Pearson’s correlation to analyze the quantitative data. The findings demonstrate that PES are critical in supplying rural livelihoods with fuelwood, fodder, leaves, wild edibles, medicines, oil seeds and resins. The overall value was estimated to be 24,781.66, 25,552.95, 16,494.46 INR per household per year for large size and 5467.39, 2671.12, 2029.62 INR per household per year for small size among the three villages. The results revealed that large households earn more than middle and small households in study area. The relationship between variables (household size, age, education, distance to forests and time spent) and PES income was tested using Pearson's correlation. The results exhibited that socio-economic factors impacted PES income substantially (p < 0.01, p < 0.05) in this study. The findings of this study can help policymakers to create mechanisms in conservation policies and regulations so that adjacent forest households can benefit from ecosystem provisions.