436
M. Goswami and S. Nautiyal
1 Introduction
The health of ecosystems is affected by human interference with advancements in
knowledge and technology. Development and environment are inseparable where
development is human activities on the environment for the betterment of society.
Human beings act upon the environment to achieve inevitable development goals
that always affects the natural balance of the environment. The provisioning ecosystem services are those provide goods like food, fodder, fuel wood, water etc. for the
sustenance of human and other species. The ecosystem services at different levels
of ecosystems are affected by any change triggered by both natural and man-made
factors. To acquire maximum economic benefits by human beings, productive landscapes with multifunctional uses are converted into simpler land use form that affects
the structure and richness of ecosystems. Sometimes promoting the enhancement of
one service leads to diminish other services. Ecosystem services are defined as benefits people obtain from ecosystems (MA 2005), and when natural ecosystems are
transformed to promote one service (e.g. agricultural system) that affect functioning
of other components and resource flow (e.g. forest cover). The environmental changes
have impacts on the ecosystem services, more specifically direct impact on provisional services those provide livelihoods for the natural resource dependent communities like fishing, agriculture, forestry, eco-tourism etc. The ecosystem services
framework (ESF) provides explanations for valued aspects of ecosystems/resources
consumed by human, directly or indirectly for development, human wellbeing and
poverty alleviation, and acknowledges the role of that those services have to provide
with healthy ecosystem (Turner and Daily 2008). The provisional services and their
changes across temporal and spatial scale illustrate its response to environmental
changes and consequent socioeconomic situation of the associated population.
Choosing between conversion of ecosystem and conservation of ecosystem has
always been partial; Pearce (2007) stated that decision makers whether individual
or government is unable to discount appropriately and provide sufficient support
to make conservation rhetoric. An effective definition for ecological sustainability
should involve inevitable conversion and robust conservation of ecosystems including biodiversity and habitat conservation, maintenance of ecosystem integrity and
livelihood sustainability. Sustainable yield is intrinsically emphasised as physical
output, which neglects the underlying processes, human-ecosystem linkages and
their sustainability. But a sustainable livelihood is defined as, “which can cope with
and recover from stress and shocks, maintain or enhance its capabilities and assets,
and provide opportunities for the next generation; and which contributes net benefits to other livelihoods at the local and global levels and in the short and long
term”—(Chambers and Conway 1992). According to World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED 1987) definition, “a livelihood comprises the
capabilities, assets and activities required for a means of living.” Sneddon (2000)
emphasized in his research on sustainability in terms of ecology and livelihoods on
scale and rapidity of ecological transformations induced by the human species. For
the ecosystem-based livelihoods, natural resources that people extract and use for
M. Goswami and S. Nautiyal
1 Introduction
The health of ecosystems is affected by human interference with advancements in
knowledge and technology. Development and environment are inseparable where
development is human activities on the environment for the betterment of society.
Human beings act upon the environment to achieve inevitable development goals
that always affects the natural balance of the environment. The provisioning ecosystem services are those provide goods like food, fodder, fuel wood, water etc. for the
sustenance of human and other species. The ecosystem services at different levels
of ecosystems are affected by any change triggered by both natural and man-made
factors. To acquire maximum economic benefits by human beings, productive landscapes with multifunctional uses are converted into simpler land use form that affects
the structure and richness of ecosystems. Sometimes promoting the enhancement of
one service leads to diminish other services. Ecosystem services are defined as benefits people obtain from ecosystems (MA 2005), and when natural ecosystems are
transformed to promote one service (e.g. agricultural system) that affect functioning
of other components and resource flow (e.g. forest cover). The environmental changes
have impacts on the ecosystem services, more specifically direct impact on provisional services those provide livelihoods for the natural resource dependent communities like fishing, agriculture, forestry, eco-tourism etc. The ecosystem services
framework (ESF) provides explanations for valued aspects of ecosystems/resources
consumed by human, directly or indirectly for development, human wellbeing and
poverty alleviation, and acknowledges the role of that those services have to provide
with healthy ecosystem (Turner and Daily 2008). The provisional services and their
changes across temporal and spatial scale illustrate its response to environmental
changes and consequent socioeconomic situation of the associated population.
Choosing between conversion of ecosystem and conservation of ecosystem has
always been partial; Pearce (2007) stated that decision makers whether individual
or government is unable to discount appropriately and provide sufficient support
to make conservation rhetoric. An effective definition for ecological sustainability
should involve inevitable conversion and robust conservation of ecosystems including biodiversity and habitat conservation, maintenance of ecosystem integrity and
livelihood sustainability. Sustainable yield is intrinsically emphasised as physical
output, which neglects the underlying processes, human-ecosystem linkages and
their sustainability. But a sustainable livelihood is defined as, “which can cope with
and recover from stress and shocks, maintain or enhance its capabilities and assets,
and provide opportunities for the next generation; and which contributes net benefits to other livelihoods at the local and global levels and in the short and long
term”—(Chambers and Conway 1992). According to World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED 1987) definition, “a livelihood comprises the
capabilities, assets and activities required for a means of living.” Sneddon (2000)
emphasized in his research on sustainability in terms of ecology and livelihoods on
scale and rapidity of ecological transformations induced by the human species. For
the ecosystem-based livelihoods, natural resources that people extract and use for