Benefits and Value of Big Trees in Urban Area: A Study in Bang Kachao Green Space, Thailand

Abstract

Green Space is very important for the conservation of biodiversity in the urban areas of Thailand. In the case of Bang Kachao, Green Space has been improved by the development of gardens in the city. The objective of this study focused on an evaluation of the benefits of big trees in the urban area at Bang Kachao Green Space, Samutprakan province. Data was collected from six types of tree habitat classified as road side, abandoned area, public area, private area, temple area, and park located across six sub districts of Bang Kachao. Data were analyzed to evaluate the monetary value of big trees from direct and indirect benefits in three parts consisting of timber value, carbon credits value, and spiritual value. The results reveal that the most valuable big trees are in the parks, followed by temple area, road side, private area, abandoned area, and public area respectively. The total monetary value of big trees was 23,447 USD of which timber value was 13,844 USD, carbon credits value was 7,309 USD, and spiritual value was 2,294 USD. The evaluation suggests that management of high value big trees in park, temple, and road side areas is important from a stakeholder perspective. The recommendations based on this study will help develop appropriate policies for sustaining ecosystem services and contributions to human wellbeing.

Choice Experiments for Estimating the Non-Market Value of Ecosystem Services in the Bang Kachao Green Area, Thailand

“…In this study, we found that the overall WTP for restoring the ecosystem services of the Bang Kachao Green Area was 1436 Baht (41.5 USD) per person per year. The total value for the entire population (10.77 million people) of the Bangkok Metropolitan Region was 446.7 million USD and much higher than the monetary value of big trees in Bang Kachao, estimated using market-based methods, which was 281,364 USD annually [6]. Our choice experiment study took non-use values into account and estimated the total economic value of the urban green area, which differs from previous studies that only covered a particular part of ecosystem services in their economic valuations [6,12,13].…”

“…The total value for the entire population (10.77 million people) of the Bangkok Metropolitan Region was 446.7 million USD and much higher than the monetary value of big trees in Bang Kachao, estimated using market-based methods, which was 281,364 USD annually [6]. Our choice experiment study took non-use values into account and estimated the total economic value of the urban green area, which differs from previous studies that only covered a particular part of ecosystem services in their economic valuations [6,12,13]. However, our data do not perfectly represent the population of Bangkok in terms of statistics when it comes to the proportions of demographic characteristics and social statuses, such as age, education, job, and income.…”

“…The final type comprises the Sri Nakhon Khuean Khan [7]. Thus, Bang Kachao is ecologically important and contributes significant ecosystem services to sustain urban society [6].…”

“…Bang Kachao is the largest green area in Bangkok, the capital city of Thailand [5]. Hence, it is a major source of oxygen, which can reduce air pollution in the metropolitan area [6]. Because a large area of Bang Kachao is covered by a rich biodiversity of trees, herbaceous plants, and food crops [7], it offers various provisioning services to community members [8].…”

“…However, there is a gap in the literature on the use of the choice experiment to investigate people's preferences and willingness to pay for urban forest ecosystem services in Thailand; only a small number of economic valuation studies have been conducted to estimate the value of urban forest resources in the country. For example, Yotapakdee et al [6] evaluated the monetary value of the benefits of big trees in Bang Kachao by using the market value of the available timber and carbon credits. Another example is the recent study that focused on valuating the total benefits of Yang Na, a plant species, in an urban area using the contingent valuation method [22].…”