A Proposal for the Economic Valuation of Satkosia Wildlife Sanctuary, Odisha

In the paradigm of Economics, goods and services are divided into four broad categories: public goods, private goods, common property resources and club goods. Environmental goods belong to the category of common property resources, which are non-excludable but rival in nature. Given this unique nature of environmental goods and the fact that environmental goods possess both use and non-use values, the markets for these goods are usually imperfect. And so, the valuation of environmental assets is a rather complicated process in the ordinary market set-up that leads to determination of equilibrium price for other goods and services. The valuation of environmental assets depends on indirect valuation methods, via the markets for other related marketable goods and services or creation of hypothetical markets. The proposed study is to make an attempt for the use of the travel cost method (TCM) and the contingent valuation method (CVM) towards assessing the total value of the Satkosia Wildlife Sanctuary located in Odisha. A research in this direction could help identify deviations between actual pricing levels and mechanisms currently under practice and those that may be more appropriate, and thus aid in policy decisions with regard to the economic value of the environmental assets of the state.