The Economic Valuation of Urban Green Parks: The Application of Contingent Valuation Method

doi:10.7176/jesd/12-23-01

Abstract

This study analyzes the total economic values of urban green areas conserved at Bahir Dar city. Contingent Valuation Method (CVM) was employed to obtain estimates of Willingness to Pay (WTP) for improving the endangered and overlooked environmental assets, urban green areas to sustain them & generate benefits to current and future generations. In this contingent valuation survey, the researcher adopted a dichotomous choice with follow-up debriefing questions and scenario description, as well as open-ended follow-up question to model individual’s WTP. The study used purposive sampling method to select the parks under study followed by simple random sampling to select 200 sample respondents. The study result revealed that almost all the respondents have a positive attitude towards the conservation of urban green parks but uncertain about the sustainability of the area’s that leads them not to take care of the areas. Besides, the study results show that the mean monthly WTP of the individuals was between 0.047 -0.16 USD and the Total Economic Value (TEV) of improved urban green areas per month was about 4656.75- 15,704.14 USD calculated from the double bounded elicitation format and open ended elicitation format respectively. Keywords: Bahir Dar , CVM, Logistic Regression, Urban Green Parks, WTP. DOI: 10.7176/JESD/12-23-01 Publication date: December 31 st 2021

Highlights

Most of the time, urban parks are considered as important contributors to a sustainable development of cities both in developed and developing countries
The descriptive statistics part presents the socio-economic and demographic characteristics of the sample respondents and their attitude, perception and knowledge about the current state of urban green areas conserved in the study area
This study found that the level of income did not seem to have an influence on people’s Willingness to Pay (WTP)

Summary

Introduction

Urban parks are considered as important contributors to a sustainable development of cities both in developed and developing countries They offer to residents and visitors a multitude of benefits such as recreational activities, fresh air, aesthetic, and ecological functions. The creation of urban parks is justified by the services they provide for the inhabitants of cities and by their regulatory function on the environment Their preservation profit the future generations which can derive the ecological services they offer. In most cases environmental assets in general, though they were very important, are the most overlooked resources This is because scientific understanding of how urban trees, parks, gardens benefit people is generally found lacking in majority of developing countries. The absence of a market does not necessarily imply the absence of value, since these benefits allegedly have a high social value through their contribution to the improvement of individual welfare

Methods

Results

Conclusion