Abstract
AbstractThe integration of soil value in agronomic micro‐level decision‐making and macro‐scale policy development has grown immensely in recent years. Major threats to soil resources and their impact on human well‐being require a comprehensive estimation of soil's economic worth, highlighting the need for sustainable and pragmatic conservation strategies. However, the absence of formal markets for numerous soil amenities, coupled with the heterogeneity of stakeholder cognition and spatio‐environmental factors, obfuscates the valuation process for soil and similar public goods. This paper aims to address such concerns by evaluating stakeholders’ willingness to pay (WTP) for soil conservation as a proxy indicator for its explicit value. Two contingent valuation method (CVM) formats, the payment card (PC) and the dichotomous choice (DC), were used to analyse WTP in Norzagaray, Philippines. Results suggest farmers’ income, education, land tenure type, level of environmental consciousness and proximity to amenities influence their inclination to spend on soil conservation measures. Econometric analyses indicate a compensating surplus corresponding to the mean WTP estimate of ₱79.98 (PC‐CVM) and a Turnbull WTP estimate of ₱99.47 (DC‐CVM). Estimated WTP values can be used in future benefit‐transfer studies, and the findings of the econometric models can be used in developing strategies that would promote greater stakeholder acceptance and participation. The approach presented here provides another step towards a more comprehensive characterization of soil value that integrates environmental valuation and econometric modelling with geospatial data.
Highlights
Analysing soil value to encapsulate its true economic contributions has grown immensely in recent years
About 93% of the respondents agreed that soil protection was an essential component in their farm operations, while 72% agreed that the local government has the responsibility to enforce soil conservation measures for the community in general
The majority said that they invest in farm-based soil conservation measures (81%) and that they continually seek additional training to learn more about conservation methods (68%)
Summary
Analysing soil value to encapsulate its true economic contributions has grown immensely in recent years. Soil valuation promotes sustainability, explicitly linking economic decision-making with soil's direct and indirect benefits (Keesstra et al, 2016). Successful implementation of soil policy relies heavily on high stakeholder participation, which could be fostered and strengthened by revealing the true economic value of soil. Different approaches have been developed to estimate soil value since soil was first valued as a component of a broader ecosystem (Jonsson & Davidsdottir, 2016). One of the major valuation approaches, use direct solicitation of the respondents’ perceived value of economic contributions. It is imperative that economic approaches to understanding soil value be developed, those that would promote the participation of the various stakeholder groups
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