PANAJI
Tourism-based livelihoods have become increasingly dominant across South Goa’s riverine estuaries, while communities dependent on these ecologically sensitive zones continue to face gaps in financial, social and human capital, a Goa government-backed study has found.
The study, conducted by the Goa State Urban Development Agency and the Department of Planning, in collaboration with the School of Planning and Architecture, Vijayawada, assessed the ecosystem service values and livelihood dependencies of the Sal in Salcete, Saleri, Talpona and Galgibag in Canacona coastal confluence zones (CCZ), where rivers meet the sea.
The findings point to a shift in livelihood patterns over the past decade, with tourism emerging as an increasingly important source of income in most of the estuaries. The Sal estuary was the exception, where fisheries continued to remain the primary source of livelihood.
The study examined the economic value of the ecosystems and their contribution to local livelihoods, highlighting the need to balance economic activities with the conservation of ecologically sensitive coastal areas.
An analysis of land use and land cover between 2003 and 2023 revealed a decline in forest, barren and wasteland categories, alongside an increase in agricultural land across the study areas, indicating significant changes in the landscape over two decades.
The researchers assessed the ecosystem services provided by the four zones under four categories — provisioning, regulating, supporting and cultural to calculate their total economic value.
Regulating services accounted for the largest contribution to the total economic value in most of the zones, while cultural services contributed the least. The findings underline the importance of these ecosystems beyond their direct contribution to tourism and fishing, including the ecological functions they perform.
The study also assessed livelihood performance across five capital assets — natural, physical, social, financial and human. While the estuaries recorded relatively strong performance in natural assets, significant deficiencies in social, financial and human capital were identified in most of the zones.
The findings highlight the need for livelihood planning that strengthens the economic resilience of communities while safeguarding the ecological functions of the estuaries.
The study has proposed management guidelines aimed at integrating ecosystem valuation with livelihood planning to support sustainable estuarine ecosystems and the socio-economic well-being of communities dependent on them.
