Valuation of the Conservation of Protected Forests in Mt. Makiling: The Case of Households in Los Baños, Laguna

Date

6-2022

Degree

Bachelor of Science in Economics

College

College of Economics and Management (CEM)

Adviser/Committee Chair

Paul Joseph B. Ramirez

Committee Member

Jaimie Kim B. Arias, Paul Joseph B. Ramirez, Ma. Angeles O. Catelo, Agham C. Cuevas

Abstract

This study estimated the willingness-to-pay (WTP) of households in Los Baños, Laguna for the conservation of the Mount Makiling Forest Reserve for the water provisioning service it provides. The forests in the mountain, as part of a watershed, are essential in ensuring the sustainability of the water supply in households located in nearby municipalities. Thus, this study was conducted to determine how much households are willing to pay, through a surcharge (conservation fee) in their water bill, for the continuous conservation of the protected forests in Mt. Makiling. The Contingent Valuation Method (CVM) was employed in this study, and used both the Turnbull lower-bound estimator and Hanneman’s Binary Logit Model as the non-parametric and parametric approach for the computation of the WTP. It is found out that the mean WTP of the respondents is Php50.81. Moreover, the results of this study indicated that the variables bid prices (negative), income (positive), additional water source (negative), and water consumption (positive) are statistically significant determinants of WTP

Language

English

LC Subject

Forest, Water provisioning services, Valuation, Ecosystem services, Willingness-to-pay, Contingent valuation method

Location

UPLB College of Economics and Management (CEM)

Call Number

LG 993.5 2022 E2 G83

Document Type

Thesis

Link to Full Text

Share

COinS