Abstract
PurposeThe estimation of market value of intangible benefits of afforestation has always been a challenging task, and the contingent valuation method is a popular method used in environmental assessment. The NTPC set up a coal-based power plant in Korba, India and planted 1.6 million trees on 19% of the project area.Design/methodology/approachThe individual's mean and median willingness to pay (WTP) for four intangible benefits, namely, pollution control (PC), improvement in underground water level (IUGWL), soil conservation and remediation (SCR) in addition to total WTP from the afforestation program of NTPC were estimated using a customized procedure for logit model based upon respondent's age, education, occupation, income and bid amount asked to pay. Stratified multistage random sampling has been used to select the respondents.FindingsThe procedure increases the number of respondents who are willing to pay as compared to conventional CVM. The finding of the study shows that the highest WTP was observed for PC (Rs. 462.84 per month per household) followed by SCR and IUGWL, whereas for total WTP it was Rs. 972.60.Originality/valueThe proposed customized procedure and the results thereof would be useful in improving the WTP estimates for other similar studies in order to conserve the environment.
Highlights
The forest ecosystem is a vital element to sustain the life support system and generate a wide variety of use values
These plantations have been raised on soil and fly ash mound by National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) with the help of local people, which mostly consist of tree species like Cassia siamea, Delonixregia, Azadirachtaindica,Bombaxceiba, Pongamiapinnata, Ailanthus excels, Acacia auriculiformis, Dalbergia sisso and, Albiziaprocera and Phyllanthusemblica
3.1 Data collection and descriptive statistics A total of 300 respondents were willing to express their views on plantation done by the NTPC
Summary
The forest ecosystem is a vital element to sustain the life support system and generate a wide variety of use values. The most important of which are timber and nontimber, recreation, wildlife habitat and watershed services. Over the last several decades, researchers have developed and refined a number of methods for estimating market value of intangible socioeconomic benefits arisen from the afforestation and natural habitat. © Girish Chandra, Avinash Jain and Sanjay Kumar. The full terms of this licence may be seen at http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/ legalcode
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