Quantification and valuation of forest ecosystem services in the western Himalayan region of India

Figures & data

Table 1. General characteristics of the villages selected for this study in the western Himalaya

Name of the villages (district)	Altitude (m asl)	Forest type in surrounding area	Human population	Livestock population (animal units)
Banlekh (Champawat)	1727	Oak	605	1513
Chekuni-Bora (Champawat)	1728	Oak	569	1287
Devsthali (Chamoli)	2282	Oak	254	786
Izarpatha (Chamoli)	2150	Oak	148	528
Chivila (Chamoli)	2371	Oak	208	646
Lausary (Chamoli)	1477	Oak	357	1082
Ulagra (Chamoli)	1503	Oak	398	842
Dharonj (Champawat)	1949	Pine	603	2134
Hat-Kalyani (Chamoli)	1391	Pine	535	1197
Maggeena (Chamoli)	1849	Pine	78	273
Lwani (Chamoli)	1805	Pine	197	523

Table 2. Quantity of various provisioning services (ecosystem goods) derived from oak forests in the western Himalayan region

	Villages
	Banlekh	Chekuni-Bora	Devsthali	Izarpatha	Chivila	Lausary	Ulagra	Mean
Provisioning services (ecosystem goods)	Quantity (tonnes/year)
Livestock food (green fodder trees)	250	284	219	110	120	231	262	211
Livestock food (green fodder ground)	184	83	60	75	71	130	123	104
Natural fertilizer (bedding leaf litter)	592	289	146	104	141	95	92	208
Fuel wood	733	385	124	89	114	111	76	233
Minor timber	19	20	1.5	0.8	2.7	4.1	4	8
M. esculenta (edible fruits)	26	13	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	6
R. arboreum (edible flowers)	0.4	0.6	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.14
Medicine (lichens)	23	4	12	6.2	10	4	5	9

Table 3. Quantity of various provisioning services (ecosystem goods) derived from pine forests in the western Himalayan region

	Villages
	Dharonj	Hat-Kalyani	Maggeena	Lwani	Mean
Provisioning services (ecosystem goods)	Quantity (tonnes/year)
Livestock food (green fodder ground)	280	477	70	193	255
Natural fertilizer (bedding leaf litter)	169	347	82	169	192
Fuel wood	457	407	43	97	251
Minor timber (furniture wood)	4	11	2	0	4

Table 4. Monetary value of various provisioning services (ecosystem goods) derived from oak forests

	Name of the villages
	Banlekh	Chekuni-Bora	Devsthali	Izarpatha	Chivila	Lausary	Ulagra	Mean
Provisioning services (ecosystem goods)	Total price (Rs./year)
Livestock food (green fodder trees)	420,300	593,700	598,255	226,520	228,175	415,400	361,061	406,202
Livestock food (green fodder ground)	318,270	172,200	107,675	100,550	120,520	220,190	212,609	178,859
Natural fertilizer (bedding leaf litter)	947,850	578,400	314,630	135,720	290,175	169,371	192,699	375,549
Fuel wood	2,033,700	1,241,400	345,290	191,625	304,775	206,793	256,851	654,348
Minor timber	53,085	78,770	7,470	4,020	7,370	18,650	16,200	26,509
M. esculenta (edible fruits)	1,315,200	542,600	–	–	–	–	–	265,400
Medicine (lichens)	645,300	110,300	337,500	172,200	279,600	105,600	137,400	255,414
R. arboreum (edible flowers)	5,300	8,460	–	–	–	–	–	1,966
Total value (Rs./village/year)	5,739,005	3,325,830	1,710,820	830,635	1,230,615	1,136,004	1,176,820	2,164,247
Per person value (Rs./year)	9,486	5,845	6,736	5,612	5,916	3,182	2,957	5,676

Table 5. Monetary value of various provisioning services (ecosystem goods) derived from pine forests

	Name of the villages
	Dharonj	Hat-Kalyani	Maggeena	Lwani	Mean
Provisioning services (ecosystem goods)	Total price (Rs./year)
Livestock food (green fodder ground)	984,000	804,143	119,225	354,800	565,542
Natural fertilizer (bedding leaf litter)	334,800	485,450	160,600	330,325	327,794
Fuel wood	1,756,800	647,875	122,275	213,890	685,210
Minor timber (furniture wood)	10,733	30,000	3,650	–	11,096
Total value (Rs./village/year)	3,086,333	1,967,468	405,750	899,015	1,589,641
Per person value (Rs./year)	5,118	3,678	5,202	4,564	4,640

Figure 1. Proportion of monetary value of the ecosystem goods extracted annually on per person basis from oak forests across the studied villages in the western Himalaya (total = Rs. 5676/capita/year).

Figure 2. Proportion of monetary value of ecosystem goods extracted annually on per person basis from the pine forests across the studied villages in the western Himalaya region (total = Rs. 4640/capita/year).

Table 6. Perceived value of provisioning services (ecosystem goods) provided by oak and pine forests in the western Himalaya region (marks out of 10 ± SE)

Provisioning services	Oak forests (n = 220 people)	Pine forests (n = 220 people)
Food for livestock (green fodder trees)	9.3 ± 0.24	0
Food for livestock (green fodder ground)	6.7 ± 0.75	8.3 ± 0.25
Fuel wood	9.5 ± 0.37	6.9 ± 1.38
Wood charcoal	8.3 ± 0.42	4.6 ± 1.37
Natural fertilizer (bedding leaf litter)	8.3 ± 0.98	4.9 ± 0.36
Minor timber (wood for agricultural implements)	8.6 ± 0.35	2.8 ± 0.44
Minor timber (furniture wood)	0	9.5 ± 0.49
Minor timber (wooden poles for fencing)	6 ± 0.41	4.5 ± 0.29
Minor timber (packing material for fruits, vegetables, etc.)	3.9 ± 1.32	8 ± 0.71
Medicinal plants	8.3 ± 0.25	4.2 ± 0.85
Resin	0	9.7 ± 0.26
Food for humans (wild edibles)	7.00 ± 0.75	5.18 ± 0.44
Medicines (lichen)	8.6 ± 0.41	5.8 ± 1.27
Freshwater for drinking and irrigation	9.3 ± 0.35	3.1 ± 0.56

Table 7. Perceived values of regulating services provided by oak and pine forests in the western Himalaya region (marks out of 10 ± SE)

Regulating services	Oak forests (n = 220 people)	Pine forests (n = 220 people)
Purification of air (clean air)	9 ± 0.71	4.5 ± 0.63
Purification of water (drinking water)	9.5 ± 0.29	5.5 ± 0.87
Prevention of extreme events (landslide control)	8.2 ± 0.85	3.7 ± 0.63
Prevention of soil erosion	8.7 ± 0.48	3.2 ± 0.48
Soil moisture retention	9.5 ± 0.29	3.1 ± 0.68
Soil fertility maintenance	8.7 ± 0.25	2.5 ± 0.65
Climate regulation (rainfall interception)	9.0 ± 0.41	5.0 ± 0.41