Value the Nature

Niruban Chakkaravarthy.D

Abstract

Finding the solution for environmental conflicts is a big deal for the current scenario. In the present world, we have been facing a lot of crisis due to the improper management of natural resources. What is the solution and how we can find the answers for this unanswered conflict? Every day, we are depending on nature. Even, if you are an individual, businessman, industry, government or any kind of stakeholder who mainly depend upon on nature are directly in the receiving end. Why we destroy natural resources very easily because they are free of cost and no one really cares about it. How we overcome this mentality, what is the solution for this? Economic developments create challenges for land users and policymakers in balancing both natural resource utilization and protection of biodiversity and ecosystem services (BES). If we can come up with a value for services of ecosystems then the stakeholders will able to know the real value and importance of any ecosystem. Several ecosystems such as, forest and coastal are mainly helping the livelihood of many human communities Even in past decades most of the ecosystems were devastated without even knowing the immense economic value provided by them. For example, a major ecosystem that has of immense importance with mangroves. Most importantly, ignorance of economic benefits of the conservation of mangrove is the main reason for ecosystem degradation and destructions. In previous times, the mangrove ecosystem is called ‘economically unproductive areas’. So, the policymakers and government decided to remove these ecosystems and consider the land for other development activities. Hence, the initiatives on the economic valuation of mangroves are a key instrument for the conservation and to select suitable decisions for mangrove ecosystem management and governance. Mangrove areas are one of the most productive ecosystems on this planet. So, this paper mainly deals with the importance of ecosystem valuation and how this initiative protects the ecosystem and its key components. Besides, I have discussed the findings of the ecosystem valuation of Karwar mangroves, in Karnataka, India.

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