Guwahati: How much is Son Beel, the largest wetland of Assam valued at? A study carried out by Kanchan Baran Singha, N. B. Singh and K. Gyanendra Singh of the National Institute of Technology Silchar and National Institute of Technology, Mizoram, has estimated the total economic value (TEV) of Son Beel at Rs 561,088,074 (USD 6,769,140.46) per annum or Rs 97,242.30 (USD 1,173.16) per household per year with fishing as the primary contributor. Its value is around 84.53 per cent of the TEV of the wetland, followed by duck rearing, water transport, tourism, paddy cultivation, biodiversity conservation, and future use. The study has been published in the Indian Journal of Natural Products and Resources.
The authors have adopted the market price method, travel cost method, and contingent valuation method for the economic valuation of Son Beel.
Wetlands provide the world’s most productive products and services (PAS) for economic purposes. Wetlands are important for fishing, agriculture, biodiversity, and recreational activities. The fishing communities of the Son Beel area have been associated with the wetland for generations, and they depend on the wetland for their livelihood.
The authors say estimating the TEV of the PAS of Son Beel may help the stakeholders and policymakers understand the importance and real value of the wetland for sustainable use, maintenance, and conservation. Accordingly, this study will reduce the information gap between stockholders and policymakers regarding the various values of the wetlands for maintaining, conserving, and sustainable development of Son Beel.
Son Beel is located in the Karimganj district of Assam covering a total area of 3458.12 hectares. The wetland is fed by the major inlet Singla River, and the outflow of the wetland is the Kachua River.
The Assam government had submitted a proposal to declare the wetland as a Ramsar site and confess its nationwide and worldwide value because of its important role in the economic, cultural, ecological, and social lives of the entire region.
The TEV of Son Beel was divided by total households benefiting from wetlands to compute the value of the wetland for each household. The value of the wetland for each household is Rs 97,242.30 per year
Fishing Value Higher
Fishing is considered the major economic activity in Son Beel. The fishing value is estimated at Rs 4,74,261,153 (USD 5,721,633.57) per annum which is almost 4.1 times greater than the value estimated in Deepor Beel, the only Ramsar Site of Assam, and almost 2.4 times greater than the value at Kolleru Lake of Andhra Pradesh. The estimated fishing value from Deepor Beel was Rs 11,64,69,375 per annum, and Rs 20,01,70,000 per annum from Kolleru Lake, India.
“Though it is reported that there are 5,334 fishermen in Son Beel Fishermen Co-operative Society( SBFCS) Ltd, there is no official record of the total number of fishing households. According to the office bearers of SBFCS Ltd. and other wetland stakeholders, it is estimated that approximately 3,000 households are engaged in fishing daily,” the study says.
The value of paddy production is Rs 69,77,351 (USD 84,176.93) per annum. The value of tourism is estimated at Rs 1,27,81,440 (USD 154199.25) per annum.
Duck rearing is another profitable activity practised in Son Beel, and the value was estimated as Rs 3,01,38,400 (USD 363599.00) per annum. The valuation of water transport in Son Beel is estimated at Rs 2,83,95,900 (USD 342,576.94) per annum.
The value of tourism is estimated at Rs 1,27,81,440 per annum, which is 1.4 times greater than that of the Jagadishpur Ramsar Site of Nepal, which had an estimated value of Rs 90,76,950 per annum.
The results of the Contingent Valuation Method (CVM) where individuals are asked how much they would be willing to pay for specific environmental services for conservation in a hypothetical market reveal that more than two-thirds, i.e., 69.2 per cent of the total households, are willing to conserve the biodiversity of Son Beel and more than half of the households, i.e., 64.8 per cent, are willing to conserve the nonuse or future use value of the resources of Son Beel. The value for the conservation of biodiversity is estimated at Rs 4,703,704 (USD 56,746.94) per annum, and the value for nonuse or future use value of resources of Son Beel is estimated at Rs 38,30,126 (USD 46,207.83) per annum.
The authors say it is crucial to involve locally educated young individuals in wetland-based activity, especially in the tourism sector, offering them income-generating opportunities to sustain their livelihoods. “Hence, it is imperative to modernize the management of the wetland and recreational facilities to attract more visitors. This increase in visitor numbers would result in a higher monetary value for the wetland,” they say.
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