Households’ willingness to pay for the rehabilitation of wetlands: evidence from Gudera Wetland, Northwest Ethiopia

Abstract

Gudera wetland is accredited as a home for innumerable goods and services that have economic value for individuals living around and outside them. However, due to the absence of rehabilitation intervention, the wetland is at the edge of collapse at this time. This paper aims to: (1) estimate households' mean willingness to pay (WTP) for the rehabilitation of the wetland, (2) investigate determinants that affect the probability and intensity of WTP, and (3) estimate aggregated welfare gains from the intervention. To address these objectives, data from 237 household heads were collected using a two-stage random sampling procedure. For the analysis, econometric models, such as bivariate probit and double hurdle, were employed to estimate the mean WTP and determinants of WTP, respectively. The result demonstrates that the mean WTP value from the double bounded dichotomous choice ranges from 70.44 to 80.64 Ethiopian Birr per year per household. Likewise, the aggregated welfare gain expected from the rehabilitation intervention ranges from 2,464,977 ($85,589) to 2,821,916 ($97,983) Ethiopian Birr per year. The double hurdle model result revealed that participation in natural resource conservation, frequency of extension contact and trust in budget allocation have a positive and significant effect on households' WTP. Whereas, factors, such as land size around the wetland, distance to the wetland and credit utilization have a negative influence on households' WTP. These findings suggest that most of the sampled households are willing to contribute for the rehabilitation intervention and this could have implications for the success of future implementation.

Estimating the non-market value of protected areas: the case of Senkele Swayne Hartebeest Sanctuary, South Ethiopia MSc Thesis, Hawassa University, Wondo Genet, Ethiopia.

“…Rather, it might also be associated with the expectation of improvement in the quality/quantity of grass for their livestock. This study is also consistent with previous studies by (Asmare et al, 2022).…”

“…The rationality is that households who participate in natural resource conservation become well informed about the environmental and ecological benefits of sanctuary conservation. This finding is also consistent with the findings of , Asmare et al, 2022 which affirm that participation in natural resource conservation practice determines the WTP amount positively.…”

Estimating the non-market value of protected areas: the case of Senkele Swayne Hartebeest Sanctuary, South Ethiopia

“…Respondents with higher levels of education had a better understanding of environmental management and relatively knew more about the negative impact of natural resource degradation. The result agrees with the work of [10,17]. Distance of the homestead from the protected area (DIST)…”

“…This signi but imperfect correlation between the two error terms veri es that a seemingly unrelated bivariate probit model (SUBPM) is the correct econometric model to estimate the mean WTP amount. It is a good agreement with this claim ( [17,27]. Also illustrate that using SUBPM gives e cient and unbiased mean WTP estimation for the conservation program.…”

“…Here, the welfare gain indicates the level of utility or satisfaction that the household derived from the proposed intervention [17]. In this case, the aggregated welfare-gain is the sum of individual's WTP amount for the welfare gain through quantity increase and quality improvement in the state of the sanctuary [14].…”