Accounting of ecosystem services from ichthyofauna in wetlands of Uttara Kannada district, Karnataka

Sincy V. ^1,4 Jaishanker R.⁴ Asulabha K.S. ^1,4and Ramachandra T.V.^{1, 2, 3
1}Energy & Wetlands Research Group [CES TE15], Centre for Ecological Sciences, ²Centre for Sustainable Technologies (ASTRA)
³Centre for infrastructure, Sustainable Transportation and Urban Planning (CiSTUP)
⁴Indian Institute of Information Technology and Management-Kerala (IIITM-K), Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala
Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore - 560 012, India.
envis.ces@iisc.ac.in    tvr@iisc.ac.in      Phone: 080 22933099/22933503 (extn 107, 114)

Conclusion

Ichthyofauna (fish) help in the socio-economic development of our country by providing nutritious food, income, and employment opportunities to society. Ichthyofauna in wetlands provides various provisioning (food, medicinal, ornamental and genetic material), regulating (nutrient recycling, regulation of food dynamics, disease regulation, water purification, carbon sequestration, and nursery service) and cultural (spiritual, recreational, educational, cultural and species appreciation) services. The provisioning, regulating, and cultural services provided by ichthyofauna in the wetlands of Uttara Kannada district were 117, 943, and 150 million Rs/year respectively. The total ecosystem supply value (TESV) of ecosystem services provided by ichthyofauna accounted to 1210 million rupees per year, and the net present value (NPV) accounts to 31 billion rupees. The current study on the economic valuation of ichthyofauna in the wetlands of Uttara Kannada district, Karnataka, will help the government and other stakeholders implement policies and provide incentives to protect the highly productive freshwater ecosystems and their biodiversity.

Acknowledgement

We thank the ENVIS Division, The Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change, Government of India and Indian Institute of Science (IISc) for the sustained support to ecological research.