Abstract
Public forests provide a variety of goods and services to communities whose opportunity cost is related to the value of alternative goods and services. This study sought to assess expressed conservation value of Kipkunur forests stock flow among economic units using expressed willingness to accept compensation and to pay. In order to account for forest goods and ecosystem services, information sought on forest resources was obtained from households living near the forest. Structured questionnaires were designed for the upstream and downstream households. In administering questionnaires, a systematic random sampling technique was employed and total samples of 224 and 231 for upstream and downstream households were selected, respectively. Excel and Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS version-20) was used in analysis. From the results, there were more females than males in upstream than downstream and more males in downstream than females with the mean age of respondents being 44.47 and 43.42 years, respectively. Again, both study areas depicted mean households’ size of 6 persons. Major economic activity for upstream was agriculture, while for downstream were depended on formal jobs and entrepreneurial ventures owed to high education level among households heads. Further, study results showed upstream households expressed high conservation value for the selected forest attributes of fuelwood, water supply, food supply and biodiversity than downstream forests resources, which was seen to be influenced by satiation effect. In conclusion, existences of variation on expressed willingness to conserve for specific forest attributes was influenced by satiation effect. It is recommended for the formulation of policy incentives that corrects redistribution imbalance in resources conservation among economic units in order to reflect Kaldor-Hicks compensation tests.
Highlights
Forests generate variety of economic products and services that are critical in supporting livelihoods for households living adjacent and far beyond [1]
The forest attributes for this study offered for bidding were fuelwood, water supply, food provision and biodiversity conservation where willingness to accept compensation (WAC) reflects resource providers who are losers through conservation, while willingness to pay (WTP) represent resource consumers who are gainers deriving forests stock flow benefits without or with minimal costs
This study findings is in agreement with study results on impacts of education on WTP values [25]. Specific forests attributes such as regulation, provisions and supportive are critical for human livelihood, such services often remain unaccounted in contemporary markets
Summary
Forests generate variety of economic products and services that are critical in supporting livelihoods for households living adjacent and far beyond [1]. Forests are vital to global economy by influencing patterns of rains, providing consumable products and in helping to structure economic development of countries by providing transformable raw material for sustainable growth [2]. Forests provides subsistence and income to 350 million people living adjacent to the forest. While estimated proportion of about 20 to 25% for rural people derive their incomes directly from forest resources which invariably acts as an insurance during prolonged droughts. Forests existences are of great significance to human life. Forests often exhibit free riding characteristics due to nonexcludable and non-rivalry of its products and functions to the consumers [4]. The consequences are the depletion of forest cover which reduces sequestration capabilities on greenhouse gasses such
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callMore From: International Journal of Economy, Energy and Environment
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
