India houses 70% of world's tigers: why the wild roars can be music to its green economy
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Tiger staring in the distance in Tadoba, Maharashtra
Synopsis
The big cats silently contribute hundreds of billions to the economy in the form of ecosystem services, water retention, climate regulation and massive carbon storage in forests. Now, moves are afoot to monetize these otherwise unnoticed services.
What is the economic contribution of tigers? Perhaps hundreds of billions they silently contribute to the country's GDP in the form of ecosystem services. Consider this: INR1 invested in Karnataka’s Bandipur Tiger Reserve, which hogged the limelight during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent visit, offers a return of INR716 – this is a very basic economic evaluation done by experts about the ecological benefits, considering the services to
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