In news Recently, the Uttarakhand government has announced that it will initiate valuation of its natural resources in the form of ‘Gross Environment Product’ (GEP).
It was established back in 1997 by ecological economists like Robert Costanza at the global level.
It is an assessment system to measure ecological status.
It is considered as the product and service value that the ecosystem provides for human welfare and economic and social sustainable development, including provisioning, regulating and cultural ecosystem services.
Overall, GEP accounts for the economic value of the ecosystem in providing products and services, and it is one of the components of green GDP.
Green GDP is an indicator of economic growth with environmental factors taken into consideration. It factors biodiversity losses and costs attributed to climate change.
Ecosystems that can be measured include natural ecosystems such as forests, grassland, wetland, desert, freshwater and ocean, and artificial systems
What is the need for Uttarakhand for such an initiative?
The state has over 71% area under forests.
Uttarakhand, through its biodiversity, gives services to the tune of Rs 95,112 crore per year to the nation.
It is also home to the Himalayas and also is the origin point of rivers like Ganga, Yamuna and Sharada as well as home to wildlife reserves like Corbett and Rajaji Tiger Reserves.
Uttarakhand is a state which provides a lot of environment services and in continuity as a result of which, there is a natural degradation in those services.
