Exploring nexus between ecosystem services and livelihood dependency for sustainable ecosystem management in lower Gangetic plains, Eastern India

Das, Manob; Das, Arijit; Pandey, Rajiv

Exploring nexus between ecosystem services and livelihood dependency for sustainable ecosystem management in lower Gangetic plains, Eastern India

2022

Das, Manob | Das, Arijit | Pandey, Rajiv

The flows of ecosystem services (ESs) from ecological patches (EPs) are being severely challenged due to global change. However, the evaluation of nexus between tribal society and ecological units with focus of tribal livelihood was not a subject of enquiry until recent past. Present study hypothesized that the different EPs has differential nexus in terms of delivery of ESs in Barind region, Eastern India. Dependency and prominence of l livelihood on ESs was evaluated through developing ES dependency index (ESDI) and ecosystem services prominence index (ESPI). Five sub-components (comprising 25 indicators) and ten dominant provisioning ecosystem services (PES) were considered to develop ESDI and ESPI respectively. The seasonal variations of availability of ESs from EPs were also assessed-based five-point Likert scale. The findings of the study showed that (i) the households were highly dependent on PES for their livelihood strategies; (ii) agricultural crops (main foods), housing materials, fuel woods, water, livestock, and medical plants were the dominant ESs; (iii) forests, agricultural lands, water bodies, and homesteads were the main EPs from which ESs were collected; (iv) there was positive correlation between ESDI and ESPI. Moreover, there was substantial variation on dependency of ESs across villages was observed and seasonal variation in ESs was noted in terms of availability and dependency with maximum contribution during the monsoon season. The result clearly suggests that there is a strong nexus between livelihood strategies and ESs in the region. Therefore, diversification of livelihood strategies must be integrated with ESs for human well-being (HWB) as well as environmental sustainability.

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