Factors influencing the willingness to pay for environmental services in forest conservation in Kenya: the case of forests in Mount Elgon District.

• Author: Sulo, Timothy
• Position: Report - Statistical data

1. INTRODUCTION

   Forests play a critical role in providing hydrological services, as a carbon sink and basic needs to communities adjacent to the forest. Population growth is claimed to be a major driving force behind environmental degradation as agriculture expands at the expense of the natural resource base (Kamugisha et al, 1997). The population adjacent to the forest in Mount Elgon in Kenya solely depends on forest goods and services for their livelihoods. The forest is considered a protected area and of primary importance to the nation. The forest is shielded through strict enforcement of rules to prevent degradation. From an economic perspective, the loss of environmental services is explained by the fact that most of these services present externalities or public goods to which their owners will not give much attention when making land use decisions. Yet, still the forests belong to the government and require tenure arrangements to include the community for any eventual benefits. Because private benefits of accessing forest land is higher than the private costs, individuals have initiatives to destroy forest. In recent years, the recognition of environmental services and their value has led to efforts to internalize environmental services through direct, contractual and conditional payments for environmental services (PES) to land owners (Wunder, 2005). Mount Elgon forest was once visualized as belonging to the local people but once institutionalized by the government, the views changed. The Contingent Valuation Method was used in the estimation of the willingness to pay by the local residents to preserve endangered species that are threatened by negative change in their habitat. The method also informed the decision making about whether to keep unprotected forest area and quantified non marketed benefits of the potential forest reserve. Willingness to pay for Environmental Services was analyzed as a function of several socioeconomic factors.

2. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

   The increasing rate at which trees are cut down in Mount Elgon forest region in Kenya is viewed as a critical problem due to accelerated drying up of rivers, soil and wind erosion among other adverse effects. Payment of Conservation services is known in to have a positive impact in the long run and appears very appealing. However, little information is available to the settlers in the region, if any, on the usefulness of forest resources. The purpose of this study was to analyze the socio-economic factors in forest conservation with regard to payment for environmental services. This will focus on determining the environmental management practices as well as involvement of communities in development and implementation of those practices.

   Specific objective:

   To assess the influence of different socio-economic factors on the willingness to pay for forest conservation.

   Hypothesis:

   [H.sub.o]: The selected socio-economic variables do not significantly affect the Household's Willingness to pay for forest conservation.

3. RESEARCH DESIGN

   The...