Abstract:
Cultural services, accounts non-material benefits people obtain from ecosystems, which were largely
ignored in literature of ecosystem valuation. The purpose of this study was to assess the significance of
cultural landscape of an urban coastal ecosystem. Negombo lagoon was selected as the study site, and the
view of the site was justified to explain the cultural landscape of lagoon in concern. The lagoon area is
geographically segregated into areas known as "Thotupola" where the fisherman used to launch their
boats. Choice Method (CM) and Contingent Valuation Method (CVM) were applied to assess the
community preferences for cultural landscape. Primary data were gathered through a face-to-face
interview, supported by a structured questionnaire, with 300 respondents (fishing households)
representing 15 'Thotupola’ areas. According to the CVM, it is revealed that the excess amount of money
that they willing to pay for direct lagoon view was Rs. 46,792 per perch (i.e. which accounts solely 23% of
land value). Further it is revealed that the age, gender, education and income had significant impact on
willingness-to-pay (WTP). According to CM, the overall implicit price for the ecosystem services is derived
as Rs. 1062.75. The lagoon view had significant impact on implicit price of overall ecosystem services in
terms of both 'full' (Rs. 161.50) and 'partial' (Rs. 148.50) view. Thus the study revealed that the marginal
WTP for cultural landscape is Rs. 309.50. Therefore, the cultural landscape accounts solely 30 percent
from the value of whole ecosystem that cannot be readily substituted.
