Journal of Range and Watershed Managment

Estimation and ranking of conservation value of selected Rangeland Ecosystem Services from the perspective of Population Preference (Case Study: Sheikh Mousa Rangeland Ecosystem)

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

Yadollah Bostan 1
ahmad fatahi ardakani 2
majid sadeghinia 3
Masoud Fehresti sani 4

1 Department of Agricultural Economics, Faculty of Agricultural and Natural Resources, Ardakan University

2 Department of Agricultural Economics, Ardakan University, Ardakan, Iran

3 Assistant Professor, Department of Rangeland Management, Ardakan University, Ardakan, Iran

4 Assistant Professor, Department of Agricultural Economics, Ardakan University, Ardakan, Iran

https://doi.org/10.22059/jrwm.2020.281734.1384
Abstract
Attention to rangeland ecosystems is important because rangeland ecosystems have significant impacts on human agriculture and food security and also have various functions that would not be possible for humans to live without. Therefore, the purpose of the present study is to estimate the conservation value and investigate the contribution and ranking of selected Sheikh Moussa rangeland ecosystem services through people's preferences in the form of Choice Modeling (CE). For the next study, the most important Sheikh Moussa rangeland services, including biodiversity, medicinal plants, ecotourism and artefacts, have been identified through field survey and ecosystem services separation.
In order to investigate the preferences of the individuals, 170 questionnaires were distributed among the population of the Eastern Bandipur district in the 2017. The results of the present study showed that individuals' annual Willingness To Pay (WTP) to improve the status of the desired ecosystem services amounted to 66692.29 Rials ($ 2.55) and the total value of services rendered was 2667 million Rials ($ 8219.09). The results show that the variables of income, being the head of household and visiting the area are the most important factors affecting the willingness to pay. Based on the values obtained, the priority of the people of the region is to focus more on biodiversity services. Also, the value obtained by the selection test method was able to provide the contribution of each function according to Lancaster's theory. Consequently, ..

Keywords

Choice Experiment
Rangeland Ecosystem
Valuation
WTP
Sheikh Musa
Journal of Range and Watershed Managment
Volume 72, Issue 4
Winter 2020
Pages 889-909

  • Receive Date 20 May 2019
  • Revise Date 21 March 2020
  • Accept Date 11 January 2020
  • Publish Date 20 February 2020

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