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1 Kunwar, S. B.; Bohara, A. K.; Thacher, J. 2020. Public preference for river restoration in the Danda Basin, Nepal: a choice experiment study. Ecological Economics, 175:106690. (Online first) [doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2020.106690]
River restoration ; Public opinion ; Ecosystem services ; Environmental impact ; Water quality ; Willingness to pay ; Policy making ; Urban areas ; Communities ; Household surveys ; Models / Nepal / Danda River Basin / Siddharthanagar
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H049706)
(3.85 MB)
This paper develops a choice experiment method to assess the potential for sustainable management of a freshwater system, the Danda River, in Nepal. We use a primary survey data from 637 households, and the empirical analysis is conducted using the Generalized Multinomial Logit (GMNL) model. The findings indicate substantial demand for restoration of the Danda River, and it is indicative of the local public's preferences for an improvement in the Danda river ecosystem. Households were willing to pay up to $1.63/year to move away from the status quo level of services in the Danda River. Our analysis incorporates the respondents' preference uncertainty, and we also explore the presence of spatial heterogeneity using the method of hot spot analysis. We find the inclusion of preference uncertainty slightly increased the precision of the marginal willingness to pay estimates, while the hot spot analysis indicates that heterogeneity in preferences for the ecosystem services surfaces primarily from an urban center. Finally, results also indicates that households prefer community-based management of the Danda River, which highlights the need for policymakers to decentralize their management to the local communities so as to enhance interest in conservation of common pool resources like river ecosystems.
2 Khatiwada, N.; Bohara, A. K.; Kunwar, S. B. 2023. Household preferences for time and monetary contributions for river restoration: a study from the Danda River Basin in Nepal. Water Resources and Economics, 43:100228. [doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wre.2023.100228]
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H052429)
(2.37 MB)
Willingness to pay (WTP) has commonly been used as a metric for the valuation of environmental goods and services. Recent studies have also recommended the use of willingness to volunteer (WTV) as a measure for valuation, especially in developing countries with low monetary income and missing (or imperfect) labor markets. The joint households' decision to contribute money and time, however, is often overlooked in these studies. When households are willing to contribute both time and money, using WTP (or WTV) alone can underestimate their preferences for environmental goods and services. This study examines both households’ WTP and WTV for the Danda river restoration in Nepal using survey data of 752 households residing near the river. By jointly estimating WTP and WTV, this study finds robust public support for improving the river in both time and monetary forms, although the proportion of respondents reporting positive WTV is higher. Wealthier households, however, prefer the payment option and are significantly less willing to contribute their time. We also find that households that perceive more direct benefits from an improved Danda river express higher WTP but are not significantly likely to volunteer more time, suggesting that volunteering decisions may not purely be motivated by the benefits households perceive from a clean river.
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