Determinants of Farmers’ Willingness to Pay and Its Level for Ecological Compensation of Poyang Lake Wetland, China: A Household-Level Survey

Sustainability

Fanbin Kong²  Kai Xiong²  Ning Zhang¹ 

[1] Institute of Poyang Lake Eco-economics, Jiangxi University of Finance and Economics, Nanchang 330032, China;

关键词: household survey;    ecological compensation;    willingness to pay (WTP);    Poyang Lake Wetland;    China;   

DOI  :  10.3390/su6106714

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

This study examines the determinants of farmers’ willingness to pay (WTP) and their payment levels for ecological compensation of the Poyang Lake Wetland in China. We developed a farmer household survey and gathered 292 effective responses. The contingent valuation method (CVM) and Heckman’s two-step model were employed for the empirical study. Results show that 46.58% of farmers are willing to pay ecological compensation, with an average price of $64.39/household per year. The influencing factors that significantly influence farmers’ WTP include household income, residential location, emphasis on improvement of wetland resources, arable land area, and contracted water area. In addition, household income, residential location, arable land area, and contracted water area are significantly related to their payment levels. The results of this empirical study inform important policy implications and recommendations.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2014 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.