Saturday, 16 September 2023 | Gajendra Singh Negi | DEHRADUN
Exercise aimed at placing data of the ecosystem services of State’s natural wealth before 16th finance commission
The Uttarakhand government is planning to quantify the ecosystem services rendered to the country by the glaciers, bugyals (high altitude alpine meadows) and rivers of the State. This exercise is being done by the Centre for Public Policy and Good Governance (CPPGG), Uttarakhand and its objective is to seek economic assistance from the Centre in lieu of the ecosystem services rendered by the natural wealth of the State. The State administration will prepare a comprehensive report on the subject which will be placed before the 16th finance commission of Government of India.
According to a rough estimate, the ecosystem service rendered by the forests, glaciers, meadows and rivers of Uttarakhand have a monetary value of about Rs 2.5 lakh crore per year. In the year 2018, the State had estimated that the forests of the State provide ecosystem services of Rs 95,000 crore to the country per year. The Uttarakhand government used this data to present the case of the state before the team of the 15th finance commission. The experts believe that this exercise yielded results when the commission increased Rs 25,000 crore in central allocation to Uttarakhand. The 15th finance commission headed by NK Singh had recommended Rs 89,845 crore to Uttarakhand from the centre for a period of five years. The term of 15th commission is ending in the year 2025-26.
The additional chief executive officer (ACEO) of CPPGG, Uttarakhand, Manoj Pant told The Pioneer that the ecosystem services rendered by glaciers, rivers and meadows will be quantified in both tangible and intangible mode. He said that the process of hiring an agency for the purpose has started. Pant said that an expression of interest (EOI) has already been issued and a Request for Proposal (RFP) will be floated soon. He said that apart from quantifying the ecosystem services research on climate change impact study by developmental projects will also be done. It is pertinent to mention here that Uttarakhand was the first State to calculate the monetary value of its forest resources and determine their Gross Environmental Product (GEP) in the year 2021. The State has forest cover of 24,305 square kilometres. There are 1,439 glaciers in Uttarakhand which cover an estimated area of 4060 square kilometres of the State.
