Management of Wetlands of Non-Prominence Form the Perspective of Benefit-Degradation Relation

Wetlands of non-prominence that have been discussed here are some water bodies in the lower-Gangetic floodplains of India. People surrounding these wetlands earn their livelihood and derive many direct and indirect benefits from them. But in the process of acquiring benefits stakeholders place these wetlands into environmentally degraded situations. The objectives of this study are to identify the socio-economic activities in and around these particular wetlands to estimate the value of the benefits derived out of these activities, to measure the degradation of physical component of the wetlands, and to estimate the benefit-degradation relations for these wetlands. For the purpose of this study, ten wetlands in Bardhaman district of the state of West Bengal in India were surveyed. The benefit and degradation were measured, and then the benefit-degradation relations have been estimated using regression models. From the benefit-degradation relations some alternatives for uses of wetlands have been worked out in an eco-friendly manner to find the conflicts that might emerge among the stakeholders