Department of Agricultural Economics, College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Debre Markos University, Debre Markos P.O. Box 269, Ethiopia.
Center for Environment and Development Studies, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa P.O. Box 1176, Ethiopia.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Jul 26;19(15):9073. doi: 10.3390/ijerph19159073.
Today, evaluating ecological wellbeing and ecosystem services is becoming a great concern towards conserving the natural resource base. Healthy functioning ecosystems have fundamental roles for aiding humankind to lead a healthy life and ensure an improved social welfare. Estimating the non-market benefits of ecosystem services can help experts and the public frame policy directions designed for landscape development. The ecosystem of the hotspot highlands of northwestern Ethiopia, where this study was carried out, provides services that are essential to changes in the life of the society and biodiversity. However, in recent years, the ecosystem is facing a serious threat from intensive monoculture plantations of . This has resulted in transformation of the cultural landscapes and a loss of biodiversity. The problem in turn calls for designing appropriate ecological improvement programs. Thus, the current study examined the preferences of residents concerning this area and estimated their willingness to pay (WTP) for the proposed ecosystem improvement programs using a Choice Experiment approach. Data were aggregated from 388 residents using a questionnaire survey in January 2020. The survey contained ecological improvement schemes and a hypothetical event by which respondents expressed their willingness to pay a yearly utility fee as a compensation for the improvement programs. Results showed significant differences in resident preferences towards the proposed ecological improvement attributes. The findings also indicated that the socioeconomic backgrounds of residents contributed for the heterogeneity in their WTP for ecological improvement schemes. Accordingly, the marginal willingness to pay of residents was USD 205/person/year for the respective ecological improvement attributes. The findings suggest that policy makers should consider such attribute-based public preferences while planning landscape development and conservation programs. This study can provide vital policy implications and contribute to knowledge as it presents how the non-market valuations of ecosystems help maximize social welfare.
如今，评估生态福利和生态系统服务对于保护自然资源基础变得至关重要。健康的生态系统对于帮助人类过上健康的生活并确保社会福利的提高具有根本作用。估算生态系统服务的非市场效益可以帮助专家和公众制定旨在进行景观开发的政策方向。本研究所在的埃塞俄比亚西北部热点高地的生态系统提供了对社会生活和生物多样性变化至关重要的服务。然而，近年来，该生态系统正面临着集约化单一栽培种植园的严重威胁。这导致了文化景观的转变和生物多样性的丧失。反过来，这个问题需要设计适当的生态改善计划。因此，本研究使用选择实验方法考察了居民对该地区的偏好，并估算了他们对拟议的生态改善计划的支付意愿（WTP）。数据是通过 2020 年 1 月的问卷调查从 388 位居民中汇总得到的。该调查包含生态改善方案和一个假设事件，受访者通过该事件表达了他们对支付年度效用费以补偿改善计划的意愿。结果表明，居民对拟议的生态改善属性存在显著差异的偏好。研究结果还表明，居民的社会经济背景导致了他们对生态改善计划的 WTP 存在异质性。因此，居民的边际支付意愿为每人每年 205 美元，用于相应的生态改善属性。研究结果表明，政策制定者在规划景观开发和保护计划时应考虑到基于属性的公众偏好。本研究可以提供重要的政策启示，并为知识做出贡献，因为它展示了生态系统的非市场估值如何帮助实现社会福利最大化。
