Use of Renewable Resources and Sustainable Livelihood in Indian Sunderbans: An Attempt through Contingent Valuation Method

Abstract

The people in the Sunderbans regions of West Bengal are mostly dependent on extraction of renewable resources like fishery and forestry to maintain their livelihood in a sustained manner. The degree of dependency, the awareness about sustainability of renewable resources and the knowledge base for sustainable livelihood can best be examined if we conduct a valuation exercise to conserve the two main renewable resources of this region. The Contingent Valuation Method (CVM) has been applied for both forestry and fishery in the Indian Sunderbans. It has been found that the willingness to pay (WTP) for conserving fishery in the Sunderbans is higher than forestryas fishery is the primary occupation in that area.In fact the WTP for conserving forestry is also reasonably high. It reflects that the people of the Sunderbans are quite aware about conservation of forest resources from the point of view of long run benefit for both fishery and forestry as their livelihood are associated with these two occupations.