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

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Abstract

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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Data availability

The datasets used during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to extend hearty acknowledgement to the respondents of the villages for their consent to participate in the study and cooperation during field survey. Special thanks to Mr. Pargon Henbram and Mr. Ashoke Rajbanshi for their support for the study. We are also extremely thankful to S/Sh Ashis Mandal, Himadri Barman, Abdur Rejjack, Rejaul Houque, Ketan Das, and Subrata Mandal for their assistance during field survey.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geography, University of Gour Banga, Malda, West Bengal, 732103, India

    Manob Das, Arijit Das & Rajiv Pandey

  2. Indian Council of Forestry Research & Education, Dehradun, India

    Rajiv Pandey

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  1. Manob Das
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  2. Arijit Das
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  3. Rajiv Pandey
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Contributions

MD and AD conceptualize and designed the study; MD collected and analyzed the data with the support of RP and written the paper; MD, AD, and RP interpreted the analysis. MD, AD, and RP read and modified the paper. All four have contributed extensively for data interpretation and discussions. All authors consented for the publication.

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Correspondence to Rajiv Pandey.

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All participants were provided their consent for participating into the interview.

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The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

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Highlights

• Nexus between provisioning ecosystem services from ecological patches and livelihood dependency are apparent.

• Ecosystem service dependency index and ecosystem services prominence index was proposed to evaluate livelihood dependency and ecosystem services prominence.

• Livelihood strategies of the households are largely determined by provisioning ecosystem services.

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Das, M., Das, A. & Pandey, R. Exploring nexus between ecosystem services and livelihood dependency for sustainable ecosystem management in lower Gangetic plains, Eastern India. Environ Sci Pollut Res 29, 63692–63708 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-20057-9

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