Valuing Cultural Services of the Kailash Sacred Landscape for Sustainable Management

Mani Nepal, Rajesh Kumar Rai, Saudamini Das, Laxmi Dutt Bhatta, Rajan Kotru, Madan Singh Khadayat, Ranbeer Singh Rawal and G. C. S. Negi
Additional contact information
Rajesh Kumar Rai: South Asian Network for Development and Environmental Economics (SANDEE), ICIMOD, Kathmandu, Nepal
Laxmi Dutt Bhatta: International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), Kathmandu, Nepal
Rajan Kotru: International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), Kathmandu, Nepal
Madan Singh Khadayat: South Asian Network for Development and Environmental Economics (SANDEE), ICIMOD, Kathmandu, Nepal
Ranbeer Singh Rawal: G.B. Pant National Institute of Himalayan Environment and Sustainable Development (GBPNIHESD), Kosi-Katarmal, Almora 263643, India
G. C. S. Negi: G.B. Pant National Institute of Himalayan Environment and Sustainable Development (GBPNIHESD), Kosi-Katarmal, Almora 263643, India

Sustainability, 2018, vol. 10, issue 10, 1-19

Abstract: Hindu Kush Himalaya is home to many cultural and religious sites. The literature on the valuation of cultural sites in the mountain terrains is thin. Hence, their development and sustainability are often ignored. Using primary survey data from three different sites in the Kailash Sacred Landscape of India and Nepal, the cultural value of religious sites to the visitors and households living in the surrounding areas was estimated using a modified travel cost method. As visitors travel by foot and offer donations at the religious sites, the estimations account for these aspects in travel cost calculations. For the sample sites, the per year average use value of cultural services was estimated to be USD 2.9 million. Excluding the use value to the outside visitors, the annual estimated use value of cultural services to the approximately 200,000 households of the entire KSL area, which covers 31,252 km 2 , is over USD 22.6 million, which is over 7% and 15% of the per capita income of Indian and Nepali households, respectively, indicating the importance of the natural-cultural environments in rural livelihoods. The estimated values will help planners manage these cultural sites sustainably for improving the livelihoods of the people living in the area.

Keywords: cultural sites; sustainability; Hindu Kush Himalayas; religious services; travel cost method; valuation of ecosystem services (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/10/3638/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/10/3638/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:10:y:2018:i:10:p:3638-:d:174953

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().