Socio-economic valuation of seagrass meadows in the Pulai River Estuary, Peninsular Malaysia, through a wellbeing lens

Abstract

Ecosystem-service valuation is a useful tool for assessing potential costs of a development, from potential habitat-rehabilitation costs or habitat-value losses. Such an assessment can help avoid or mitigate cost implications from such losses. Furthermore, most environmental-impact assessments focus solely on ecological services, without considering the socio-ecological-economic relationships that provide a more holistic assessment of a habitat by incorporating socio-economic values. This study combines the benefit-transfer approach with significant anthropological and local-knowledge inputs to determine a more complete assessment of the value of seagrass meadows in Mukim Tanjung Kupang, Johor, Malaysia. We collected data that are site-specific and relevant to a small-scale artisanal fishery in this area, which include often-excluded measures such as reported catch landings, gleaning, tourism and downstream economic values. This study determined a seagrass habitat value of US$57731.80 (RM242473.58) ha–1 year–1. However, this figure is highly underestimated owing to the number of unavailable ecosystem-service values, as well as an uncertain future for the area. The research has shown that there are many more components to economic assessments of natural habitats than has previously been realised.