Willingness to pay for forest conservation: Evidence from a contingent valuation survey analysis in Southwest Ethiopia

Forests are the major source of biodiversity and ecosystem services, on which millions of liveli-hoods depend. In Ethiopia, forests play a crucial role in the livelihoods of rural communities by providing various goods and ecosystem services such as timber, non-timber forest products, water resources, and environmental conservation. Despite these benefits, the forests of the country have been subject to continuous degradation, which calls for sustainable conservation. Effective public participation in conservation activities is an important intervention to consider for successful conservation efforts. This paper aims to estimate households' mean willingness to pay (WTP) both in money/cash and labour time for the conservation of Belete-Gera forest in southwest Ethiopia and to identify determinants of WTP. To address the objectives, survey data was collected from 193 sample households using a double-bounded contingent valuation (CV) format followed by open-ended questions. A bivariate probit model estimation result indicates that the annual mean WTP in monetary values or cash was 167.23 Birr ($4.88) per household, while the annual mean willingness to contribute in labour (WTCL) was 49.66 man-days per household. The finding supports the contribution in labour as a payment vehicle for future CV studies, particularly when applied to low-income households. The result indicates that age of the household head, gender (male), education level, income, and training on forest conservation are statistically significant and have a positive effect on WTP in money, whereas bids offered have negative effects. For the labour bidding case, gender of the household head (male), land holding size, and training on forest conservation are statistically significant and increase households' WTCL, while dependency ratio, a distance of the residential place from the forest, and bids in labour showed significant negative effects. The estimated results suggest that the local community supports the conservation of the forest, implying that, despite their low-income, rural households are willing to contribute considerable amounts of resources for the proposed conservation program in the study area. Thus, it is suggested that government and development partners need to consider the potential of labour contributions by local communities in conservation policies.

Automated summary

This paper estimates the mean willingness to pay (WTP) in monetary and labor terms for the conservation of Belete-Gera forest in southwest Ethiopia and identifies factors influencing WTP. It finds that households are willing to pay 167.23 Birr ($4.88) per year in money and contribute 49.66 man-days per year in labor. The study suggests that labor contributions can be a feasible payment vehicle for conservation efforts, particularly for low-income households.