Willingness to Pay for the Protection and Conservation of Forest Ecosystems in the Abra River Basin, Philippines

Abstract

The forest ecosystems of the Abra River basin, Philippines, provide various ecosystem goods and services that are important to the wellbeing of its residents. This study used the Contingent Valuation Method (CVM) to estimate the willingness to pay (WTP) of local residents for the protection and conservation of forest ecosystems within the basin. A total of 368 households were involved in the survey. The result showed that 78.26% of the respondents were willing to pay for forest protection and conservation activities. The estimated mean WTP (MWTP) using binary logistic regression is PhP 5.13/month/household. The MWTP was significantly influenced by marital status and bid amount. Further, the respondents showed awareness of the various goods and services provided by forest ecosystems, especially provisioning services.