Publication

02.10.2015

ICIMOD Working Paper 2012/5: Value of Forest Ecosystem Services – A Quantitative Estimation from the Kangchanjunga Landscape in Eastern Nepal

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The ecosystem services derived from conservation areas have a high value for human wellbeing, but they do not receive due consideration in public policy in the Hindu Kush Himalayan region. As a result, conservation areas do not receive adequate public support for participatory management and other conservation approaches. The lack of recognition is in part due to the lack of explicit calculations of the actual economic value of these areas for the local, regional, and global populations. This paper presents the results of an attempt to estimate the monetary value of the goods and services provided by the forest ecosystems of three districts around Mount Kangchanjunga in eastern Nepal. A market method was used for valuation of the provisioning services, a benefit transfer method for the regulating services, and a productivity method for the supporting services.