Economic significance of provisioning ecosystem services of traditional water bodies: Empirical evidences from West Bengal, India

The paper attempts to assess the economic values of provisioning ecosystem services people obtained from traditional water bodies, and identify and analyse determining factors that are likely to influence household collection of the same. Descriptive statistics and Poisson regression model has been used to analyse the data collected from 150 households residing around three selected tanks. The study finds that the average household income from agricultural activities linked with tank during 2016-2017 was estimated to be INR 1033 (16 USD), INR 7216 (112 USD) and INR 7044 (109 USD) for Alam Sahar, Harda Jhil and Rishi Bundh tanks, respectively. Regression analysis suggests that households with more female members and livestock, younger household heads and lower social caste backgrounds tend to obtain more provisioning ecosystem services from tanks. Households located far away from the tank collect less tanks products. The findings have important policy implications for poverty alleviation and addressing malnutrition and food security problems in rural India.