Willingness to Pay for Forest existence (WTP) in Uganda

Forests in Uganda are very vital for commercial purposes ranging from wood fuels to high-quality timber. Forests are also the reason that Uganda is among the top tourist destinations in Africa with enormous species of wildlife and trees/plants which lovers of nature would want to visit or see. However, forest degradation and deforestation have since the 2000s escalated. The current levels of forest exploitation require a comprehensive investigation and possible solution. Therefore, evaluating forest resources is of principal importance for conservation and management purposes. This dissertation analyzed the Total Economic Values (TEV) model and particularly Forest's existence values and conducted Willingness to pay (WTP) for forest existence values, conservation, and forest sustainability. Also, forest governance issues in Uganda were critically assessed. Using the Contingent Valuation Method (CVM) and Stated Preference (SP), a questionnaire survey and Focused Group Discussion were used to achieve the study objectives. A sample of n=203 was studied, and collected data were subject to SPSS and STATA software for statistical analysis. Governance issues such as corruption and lack of transparency were highlighted as the major cause of the increased deforestation, also most respondents agreed that the climatic changes in the country are linked to deforestation. Furthermore, the results confirmed a high rank for good knowledge of forest services, benefits, and functions, many households use charcoal or wood fuel. The CVM and SP results showed the mean WTP of $15 and over 60% of the respondents were willing to pay for the forest in existence. The results also presented that over 80% were WTP at least $10 to conserve the forests. Ceteris Paribus, this dissertation concluded that WTP for forest existence values, conservation, and sustainability was highly influenced by the knowledge of forest functions (KFF), and the preference for forest existence values /Non-use forest values. Lastly, this dissertation concluded that Non-Use Values (NUVs) is far much greater than the Use-Values (UVs) that can easily be priced. i.e., NUV >US ceteris paribus. Policy recommendations were suggested herein for future research as well as policy decision-making at different levels of Governance of Uganda regarding forests and other natural resources management.

Uganda is richly endowed with flora and fauna. Until the early 2000s, most of the types of vegetation have remained natural/virgin forests and shrubs until recent years, when human activities have damaged them. Understanding the different ways that people value such endangered forest resources is very important. The main hypothesis in our study is that willingness to pay (WTP) for forest existence value and sustainability depends on the preference for the same values. In addition, we examined socioeconomic characteristics, such as sex, education, and household incomes, which could influence the WTP for forest existence value and sustainability. We carried out field questionnaire interviews with the aim of ascertaining Willingness to Pay (WTP) for forest existence. The WTP values were in a range between 1 and 200 USD based on the contingent valuation method (CVM). A sample with a size of 203 was interviewed in selected towns and villages in Uganda, and the data collected were subjected to statistical analysis. The cross-tabulation of the expressed preferences illustrates that 81.9% of the representative sample are willing to pay for forest existence value and sustainability. We concluded that the willingness to pay for forest existence significantly depends on the preference for forest existence values and sustainability. Our results equally express that the mean WTP in this region is 15 USD per year and that over 60% are willing to pay this amount. The socioeconomic determinants’ results demonstrate heterogeneity and that over 90% of the respondents are willing to pay for forest existence, conservation, and sustainability.

This study focused on the willingness to pay (WTP) for forest existence values in Uganda. The study hypothesized that WTP for forest existence values depends on the preference for forest non-use values.

Uganda commonly known as the pearl of Africa is greatly endowed with flora and fauna. Until the 2000s, most of her vegetation were natural forests. It is argued that human activities have largely damaged these forests lately. Understanding the value people of Uganda attach to such endangered forest resources is very paramount. We hypothesized that willingness to pay (WTP) for forest existence value depends on the preference for the forest existence. The study carried out field questionnaire interviews to obtain WTP for forest existence values. The WTP values were in a range between 1 and 200 USD based on the Contingent Valuation Method (CVM). Cross-tabulation results of the expressed preferences illustrated that over 80% of the representative sample is willing to pay for forest existence value. Bias mitigation results showed that the mean WTP in this region is 15 USD per year and that over 60% were willing to pay this amount. Keywords: Deforestation, forest services and functions, valuation methods Cite: Bamwesigye, D., Hlavackova, P., Sujova, A., Fialova, J., Kupec, P. 2020. Willingness to Pay for Forest Existence Value and Sustainability. Public Recreation and Landscape Protection - Nature with Hand in Hand (RaOP 2020 Conference Proceedings), Mendel University in Brno, Brno. pp 256-259.

The objective of this paper was to give an overview of the expressed preference (EP) techniques of environmental valuation. These methods offer estimation of the value of a resource not necessarily willingness to pay (WTP) or willingness to Accept (WTA) compensation rather upper and lower values. The method of measuring individuals’ willingness to pay is usually based on contingent valuation method (CVM). We focus on defining, categorizing, and applicability of various environmental valuation techniques that have been and can be applied in attaching value to a given resource using expressed/Revealed preference methods. The study serves as a supplementary synthesis and discussion to the board of knowledge of resource valuation methods. More specifically, selected methods discussed herein include; contingent valuation method, hedonic pricing model, travel cost method, trade-off game method, the costless-choice method, Delphi method, Replacement Cost Method, Relocation Cost Method, Opportunity cost method, and Cost-benefit Method. In the last part, applicability of the methods is fully illustrated to support future studies on resource valuation.