IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/wodepe/v24y2021ics2452292921000886.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Traditional water bodies and cultural ecosystem services: Experiences from rural West Bengal, India

Author

Listed:
  • Chowdhury, Koushik
  • Behera, Bhagirath

Abstract

One of the major challenges in the world today is to recognize, maintain and/or enhance beneficial contributions of nature to people with minimum distortions to the local ecology. Using both qualitative and quantitative methods and a context-specific perspective, the present study identifies and assesses various cultural ecosystem services people obtain from traditional water bodies in West Bengal, India. The study also explores the ways to incorporate cultural ecosystem services in management initiatives of traditional water bodies at local level. It is found that people obtain a variety of non-material benefits from the traditional water bodies which include artistic inspiration, cultural heritage, social relationship, and various services relating to religious, spiritual, aesthetic, recreational and environmental aspects. The cultural ecosystem services are often not documented in empirical studies and are declining due to socio-cultural and environmental changes in the region. It is observed that use of these cultural ecosystem services by households vary significantly with their cultural practices, socio-economic (e.g. wealth and social status of households) and demographic characteristics (e.g. age, gender and education level of household head). Thus, mainstreaming cultural ecosystem services that are generally not amenable to biophysical and/or monetary matrices can play a crucial role in sustainable use and management of traditional water bodies.

Suggested Citation

  • Chowdhury, Koushik & Behera, Bhagirath, 2021. "Traditional water bodies and cultural ecosystem services: Experiences from rural West Bengal, India," World Development Perspectives, Elsevier, vol. 24(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:wodepe:v:24:y:2021:i:c:s2452292921000886
    DOI: 10.1016/j.wdp.2021.100372
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2452292921000886
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.wdp.2021.100372?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ho Huu, Loc & Ballatore, Thomas J. & Irvine, Kim N. & Nguyen, Thi Hong Diep & Truong, Thi Cam Tien & Yoshihisa, Shimizu, 2018. "Socio-geographic indicators to evaluate landscape Cultural Ecosystem Services: A case of Mekong Delta, Vietnam," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 31(PC), pages 527-542.
    2. Vieira, Felipe A.S. & Bragagnolo, Chiara & Correia, Ricardo A. & Malhado, Ana C.M. & Ladle, Richard J., 2018. "A salience index for integrating multiple user perspectives in cultural ecosystem service assessments," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 32(PB), pages 182-192.
    3. Gladkikh, Tatiana M. & Gould, Rachelle K. & Coleman, Kimberly J., 2019. "Cultural ecosystem services and the well-being of refugee communities," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 40(C).
    4. Pascua, Pua‘ala & McMillen, Heather & Ticktin, Tamara & Vaughan, Mehana & Winter, Kawika B., 2017. "Beyond services: A process and framework to incorporate cultural, genealogical, place-based, and indigenous relationships in ecosystem service assessments," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 26(PB), pages 465-475.
    5. Bullock, Craig & Joyce, Deirdre & Collier, Marcus, 2018. "An exploration of the relationships between cultural ecosystem services, socio-cultural values and well-being," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 31(PA), pages 142-152.
    6. Mensah, Sylvanus & Veldtman, Ruan & Assogbadjo, Achille Ephrem & Ham, Cori & Glèlè Kakaï, Romain & Seifert, Thomas, 2017. "Ecosystem service importance and use vary with socio-environmental factors: A study from household-surveys in local communities of South Africa," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 23(C), pages 1-8.
    7. Dickinson, Dawn C. & Hobbs, Richard J., 2017. "Cultural ecosystem services: Characteristics, challenges and lessons for urban green space research," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 25(C), pages 179-194.
    8. Natalia Dinello & Vladimir Popov (ed.), 2007. "Political Institutions and Development," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 12689.
    9. Schmidt, Katja & Walz, Ariane & Martín-López, Berta & Sachse, René, 2017. "Testing socio-cultural valuation methods of ecosystem services to explain land use preferences," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 26(PA), pages 270-288.
    10. Ahammad, Ronju & Stacey, Natasha & Sunderland, Terry C.H., 2019. "Use and perceived importance of forest ecosystem services in rural livelihoods of Chittagong Hill Tracts, Bangladesh," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 87-98.
    11. Scholte, Samantha S.K. & van Teeffelen, Astrid J.A. & Verburg, Peter H., 2015. "Integrating socio-cultural perspectives into ecosystem service valuation: A review of concepts and methods," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 67-78.
    12. Baker, Tracy & Cullen, B. & Debevec, Liza & Abebe, Yenenesh, "undated". "A socio-hydrological approach for incorporating gender into biophysical models and implications for water resources research," Papers published in Journals (Open Access) H047073, International Water Management Institute.
    13. Koushik Chowdhury & Bhagirath Behera, 2020. "Traditional water bodies and ecosystem services: Empirical evidence from West Bengal, India," Natural Resources Forum, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 44(3), pages 219-235, August.
    14. Hermes, Johannes & Van Berkel, Derek & Burkhard, Benjamin & Plieninger, Tobias & Fagerholm, Nora & von Haaren, Christina & Albert, Christian, 2018. "Assessment and valuation of recreational ecosystem services of landscapes," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 31(PC), pages 289-295.
    15. Shi, Qinqin & Chen, Hai & Liang, Xiaoying & Zhang, Hang & Liu, Di, 2020. "Cultural ecosystem services valuation and its multilevel drivers: A case study of Gaoqu Township in Shaanxi Province, China," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 41(C).
    16. Vippala Ratna Reddy & Bhagirath Behera, 2009. "The economic and ecological impacts of tank restoration in South India," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 21(1), pages 112-136, February.
    17. Torkar, Gregor & Krašovec, Urša, 2019. "Students’ attitudes toward forest ecosystem services, knowledge about ecology, and direct experience with forests," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 1-1.
    18. Ryffel, Andrea Nathalie & Rid, Wolfgang & Grêt-Regamey, Adrienne, 2014. "Land use trade-offs for flood protection: A choice experiment with visualizations," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 10(C), pages 111-123.
    19. Tekken, Vera & Spangenberg, Joachim H. & Burkhard, Benjamin & Escalada, Monina & Stoll-Kleemann, Susanne & Truong, Dao Thanh & Settele, Josef, 2017. "“Things are different now”: Farmer perceptions of cultural ecosystem services of traditional rice landscapes in Vietnam and the Philippines," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 25(C), pages 153-166.
    20. Stålhammar, Sanna & Pedersen, Eja, 2017. "Recreational cultural ecosystem services: How do people describe the value?," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 26(PA), pages 1-9.
    21. Riechers, Maraja & Barkmann, Jan & Tscharntke, Teja, 2016. "Perceptions of cultural ecosystem services from urban green," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 17(C), pages 33-39.
    22. Clements, Hayley S. & Cumming, Graeme S., 2017. "Manager strategies and user demands: Determinants of cultural ecosystem service bundles on private protected areas," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 28(PB), pages 228-237.
    23. Fish, Robert & Church, Andrew & Winter, Michael, 2016. "Conceptualising cultural ecosystem services: A novel framework for research and critical engagement," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 21(PB), pages 208-217.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Nowak-Olejnik, Agnieszka & Schirpke, Uta & Tappeiner, Ulrike, 2022. "A systematic review on subjective well-being benefits associated with cultural ecosystem services," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 57(C).
    2. Koushik Chowdhury & Bhagirath Behera, 2020. "Traditional water bodies and ecosystem services: Empirical evidence from West Bengal, India," Natural Resources Forum, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 44(3), pages 219-235, August.
    3. Bolaños-Valencia, Ingrid & Villegas-Palacio, Clara & López-Gómez, Connie Paola & Berrouet, Lina & Ruiz, Aura, 2019. "Social perception of risk in socio-ecological systems. A qualitative and quantitative analysis," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 1-1.
    4. Li-Pei Peng & Wei-Ming Wang, 2020. "Hybrid Decision-Making Evaluation for Future Scenarios of Cultural Ecosystem Services," Land, MDPI, vol. 9(8), pages 1-20, August.
    5. Dehghani Pour, Milad & Barati, Ali Akbar & Azadi, Hossein & Scheffran, Jürgen & Shirkhani, Mehdi, 2023. "Analyzing forest residents' perception and knowledge of forest ecosystem services to guide forest management and biodiversity conservation," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 146(C).
    6. Ľuboš Slovák & Jan Daněk & Tomáš Daněk, 2023. "The use of focus groups in cultural ecosystem services research: a systematic review," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-13, December.
    7. Tandarić, Neven & Ives, Christopher D. & Watkins, Charles, 2022. "From city in the park to “greenery in plant pots”: The influence of socialist and post-socialist planning on opportunities for cultural ecosystem services," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    8. Beichen Ge & Congjin Wang & Yuhong Song, 2023. "Ecosystem Services Research in Rural Areas: A Systematic Review Based on Bibliometric Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-18, March.
    9. Ramos, Alya & Jujnovsky, Julieta & Almeida-Leñero, Lucía, 2018. "The relevance of stakeholders’ perceptions of ecosystem services in a rural-urban watershed in Mexico City," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 34(PA), pages 85-95.
    10. Rosa, Josianne Claudia Sales & Geneletti, Davide & Morrison-Saunders, Angus & Sánchez, Luis Enrique & Hughes, Michael, 2020. "To what extent can mine rehabilitation restore recreational use of forest land? Learning from 50 years of practice in southwest Australia," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    11. Constant, Natasha Louise & Taylor, Peter John, 2020. "Restoring the forest revives our culture: Ecosystem services and values for ecological restoration across the rural-urban nexus in South Africa," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 118(C).
    12. Breyne, Johanna & Dufrêne, Marc & Maréchal, Kevin, 2021. "How integrating 'socio-cultural values' into ecosystem services evaluations can give meaning to value indicators," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 49(C).
    13. Gugulica, Madalina & Burghardt, Dirk, 2023. "Mapping indicators of cultural ecosystem services use in urban green spaces based on text classification of geosocial media data," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    14. Kong, Inhye & Sarmiento, Fausto O., 2022. "Utilizing a crowdsourced phrasal lexicon to identify cultural ecosystem services in El Cajas National Park, Ecuador," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 56(C).
    15. Setten, Gunhild & Brown, Katrina Myrvang, 2018. "Ecosystem services as an integrative framework: What is the potential?," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 549-556.
    16. Elwell, Tammy L. & López-Carr, David & Gelcich, Stefan & Gaines, Steven D., 2020. "The importance of cultural ecosystem services in natural resource-dependent communities: Implications for management," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 44(C).
    17. Ainsworth, Gillian B. & Kenter, Jasper O. & O'Connor, Sebastian & Daunt, Francis & Young, Juliette C., 2019. "A fulfilled human life: Eliciting sense of place and cultural identity in two UK marine environments through the Community Voice Method," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 39(C).
    18. Shi, Qinqin & Chen, Hai & Liang, Xiaoying & Zhang, Hang & Liu, Di, 2020. "Cultural ecosystem services valuation and its multilevel drivers: A case study of Gaoqu Township in Shaanxi Province, China," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 41(C).
    19. Flood, Kate & Mahon, Marie & McDonagh, John, 2021. "Assigning value to cultural ecosystem services: The significance of memory and imagination in the conservation of Irish peatlands," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 50(C).
    20. Huai, Songyao & Chen, Fen & Liu, Song & Canters, Frank & Van de Voorde, Tim, 2022. "Using social media photos and computer vision to assess cultural ecosystem services and landscape features in urban parks," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 57(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:wodepe:v:24:y:2021:i:c:s2452292921000886. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/world-development-perspectives .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.