Estimating the local cost of conservation: a choice modeling approach for eliciting willingness to accept compensation

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

Abstract

This study aims to quantify the economic opportunity cost of conservation to coastal communities adjacent to mangrove forests in the southern coasts of Iran (Qeshm Island). The main commercial use of the Hara forests in this area is restricted to fishing, tourist boating trips, and limited leaves cutting. We applied a choice modeling (CM) approach to measure the value of a reduction of access under hypothetical scenarios in which local users would receive monetary compensation for lessening or forgoing mangrove forest utilization. Data were collected from the rural households living in the villages adjacent to mangrove forests and then analyzed by using conditional logit model. The results showed that the existence of a willingness to accept compensation for increases in environmental risk is associated with conservation program.  Local communities are willing to accept a lower compensation when the aim of protection is to lessen the Hara cutting and fishing amount relative to recreational opportunities banning. The estimated mean WTA was 235000 IRR/hsld/day. The results also showed that there is a heterogeneity in the individual’s preferences, which attributed to factors including income, age, family size, job and experience of participation in the environmental projects.

Keywords

References

[1]. Barbier, E.B., Hacker, S.D., Kenedy, C., Koch, E.W., Stier, A.C., and Silliman, B.R. (2011). The value of estuarine and coastal ecosystem services. Ecological Monographs, 81(2): 169-193.
[2]. Brown, C., Corcoran, E., Herkenrath, P., and Thonell, J. (2006). Marine and Coastal Ecosystems and Human Well-Being: A Synthesis Report Based on the Findings of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, UNEP-WCMC, Cambridge. 
[3]. Alpizar, F., Carlsson, F., and Martinsson, P. (2003). Using choice experiments for non- market valuation. Economic Issues-Stoke on Trent, 8(1): 83-110.
[4]. Sathirathai, S., and Barbier, E.B. (2001). Valuing mangrove conservation in southern Thailand. Contemporary Economic Policy, 19(2): 109-122.
[5]. Badola, R., and Hussain, S.A. (2005). Valuing ecosystem functions: an empirical study on the storm protection function of Bhitarkanika mangrove ecosystem, India. Environmental Conservation, 32(1): 85-92.
[6]. Do, T.N., and Bennett, J. (2007). Willingness to pay for wetland improvement in Vietnam’s Mekong river delta. In: Proceedings of Australian Agriculture and Resource Economics Society Conference. Feb.13-16 Queenstown, New Zealand, pp. 131-145.
[7]. Ahmad, S. (2009). Recreational values of mangrove forest in Larut Matang Perak. Journal of Tropical Forest Science, 21(2): 81-87.
[8]. Godoy, R., Reyes-García, V., Vadez, V., Leonard, W.R., Tanner, S., Huanca, T., Wilkie, D., and TAPS Bolivia study team. (2009). The relation between forest clearance and household income among native Amazonians: Results from the Tsimane Amazonian Panel Study, Bolivia. Ecological Economics, 68 (6): 1864-1871.
[9]. Louviere, J.J, and Woodworth, G. (1983). Design and analysis of simulated consumer choice or allocation experiments: an approach based on aggregate data. Journal of Marketing Research, 20(4): 350-367.
[10]. Adamowicz, W., Louviere, J., and Williams, M. (1994). Combining revealed and stated preference methods for Valuing Environmental Amenities. Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 26(3): 271-292.
[11]. Binilkumar, A.S., and Ramanathan, A. (2009). Valuing Wetland Attributes Using Discrete Choice Experiments: A Developing Country Experience. In: Proceedings of 17th Annual Conference of the European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists. Jun.24-27, Vrije Universiteit (VU University) Amsterdam, Netherlands, pp.183-203.
[12]. Kaffashi, S., Shamsudin, M.N., Radam, A., Yacob, M.R., Rahim, K.A., and Yazid, M. (2012). Economic valuation and conservation: do people vote for better preservation of Shadegan International Wetland?. Biological Conservation, 150(1): 150-158.

[13]. Sharzehi, G.A., and Jalili Kamjoo, P. (2013). Choice Modeling: A New Approach to Valuation of Environmental Commodity; Case Study: Ganjnameh, Hamadan. The Economic Research, 13(3): 1-18.

[14]. Casey, J.F., Kahn, J.R., and Rivas, A.A.F. (2008). Willingness to accept compensation for the environmental risks of oil transport on the Amazon: A choice modeling experiment. Ecological Economics, 67(4): 552-559.
[15]. Cochran, W.G. (1977). Sampling Techniques. John Wiley & Sons, New York.
[16]. Bennett, J., and Adamowicz, V. (2001). Some Fundamentals of Environmental Choice Modelling, J. Bennett and R. Blamey (ed.), Edward Elgar, United States.
[17]. Lancaster, K.J. (1966). A New Approach to Consumer Theory. Journal of Political Economy, 74(2): 132-157.
[18]. Rolfe, J., Bennett, J., and Louviere, J. (2000). Choice modelling and its potential application to tropical rainforest preservation. Ecological Economics, 35(2): 289-302.
[19]. Hausman, J., and McFadden, D. (1984). Specification tests for the multinomial logit model. Econometrica, 52(5): 1219-1240.
[20]. McConnell, K.E., and Tseng, W.C. (1999). Some preliminary evidence on sampling of alternatives with the random parameter logit. Marine Resource Economics, 14(4): 317-332.
[21]. Ali Babaie, E., Ghorbani, M., Mohajer, R., and Avatefi, M. (2017). Social monitoring: network analysis and social capital in sustainable forest resources management (case study: Kodir village, Kojur, Mazandaran province). Journal of Forest and Wood Products, 69(4): 647-840.
[22]. Nakhaei, N., Mortazvi, A., Amirnejad, H., and Navazi, M.A.  (2013). Estimation of the Recreational Value of Nour Forest Park Using Individual’s Willingness to Pay. Journal of Forest and Wood Products, 65(2): 131-259.
Forest and Wood Products
Volume 70, Issue 1
May 2017
Pages 71-81

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics