Abstract
Forests provide multiple benefits to the society, which are both direct and indirect. These benefits include goods viz., timber, fuelwood, fodder, food, ornamental and medicinal resources and services like carbon sequestration, soil and water conservation, pollination, conservation of biodiversity and overall maintenance of life supporting system. A study was conducted in Dehradun and Tehri districts to quantify and assess the economic value of various provisioning services which local people derive from the forest to meet their day to day requirement. The results indicated that local people are mainly dependent on forests for fodder, fuelwood, grazing, timber and edibles etc. and the average value of these goods was estimated as Rs. 12,033.00, Rs.7,123.00, Rs.5,451.00, Rs.2,439.00, Rs.707.00 and Rs. 508 for fuelwood, fodder, timber, edibles and cattle beds mulch, respectively. Since the economic value of these goods and services is so high, necessary management strategies should be adopted to maximize their flow from the forests. It may go a long way in evolving peoples’ participation in protection and conservation of forests in the state.
Keywords
Production functions, Carrier functions, Questionnaire, Tangible, Watershed, Participatory rural appraisal