THE ECONOMIC VALUE OF THE ENVIRONMENT:
CASES FROM SOUTH ASIA

ECONOMIC VALUATION OF THE MANGROVE ECOSYSTEM
ALONG THE KARACHI COASTAL AREAS
Samina Khalil
Applied Economics Research Institute, Karachi

January, 1999

This paper is forthcoming in Joy E. Hecht, ed., The Economic Value of the Environment: Cases from
South Asia, to be published by IUCN in 1999. This paper is copyrighted by IUCN/US. It may be reproduced in whole or in part and in any form for educational or non-profit uses, without special permission from the copyright holder, provided acknowledgement of the source is made. All four papers in the forthcoming volume are available on the web at http://www.iucnus.org/publications.html.

ECONOMIC VALUATION OF THE MANGROVE ECOSYSTEM
ALONG THE KARACHI COASTAL AREAS
Samina Khalil
Applied Economics Research Institute, Karachi

ABSTRACT
The mangroves of the Indus River Delta in the Karachi, Pakistan coastal areas provide a wealth of goods and services to people who live and work among them. However, these products are not sold in established markets, so their economic importance goes unrecognized. As a result, the expansion of regional industry, agriculture, and population are permitted to threaten the sustainability of the mangrove ecosystems. This study describes the broad array of goods and services provided by the mangroves, and uses market data to estimate the economic value of a few of them. It then argues for the importance of more thorough mangrove valuation studies as a crucial input into policy decisions which will affect the viability of mangrove ecosystems in the future.

INTRODUCTION
This study focuses on economic valuation of the mangrove ecosystem along the Karachi coastal areas. The mangrove ecosystem of the Indus Delta coastal zone is a vital wetland area of great ecological and economic significance. The location