ESTIMATING WILLINNESS TO PAY FOR WETLAND CONSERVATION: A CONTINGENT VALUATION STUDY OF MUDUN ELA AND KALU OYA WATERSHEDS, WESTERN PROVINCE SRI LANKA

Abstract

Wetland ecosystems are often neglected or undervalued. Few people realize the range of products derived from wetlands and their freshwater habitats. There are a number of social and economic benefits of wetlands and the wetlands are in a serious risk today. Specially, in relation to human activities and in inconvenient utilization, wetlands around the globe are being modified, reclaimed and over-exploited due to high levels ofresource consumption, land conversion and also upstream developments that alter the quality and flow of water that feeds into them. Decision makers often have a little understanding of the environmental value of wetlands because wetlands are often perceived as having little or no value compared with uses that yield more visible and immediate economic benefits. In this circumstances, revelation and recognition of value of wetlands and thereafter the valuation their importance has been an essential matter which helps to protect such habitats and also it is useful to utilize the benefits of wetlands in a proper management. The objective of this study is to estimate the willingness to pay (WTP) for conservation of MudunEla and KaluOya watersheds, Western province Sri Lanka using Contingent Valuation Method (CVM). Respondents were randomly selected for data collection through face-to-face interview. The Tobit model was used to estimate the entrance fee to for conservation. The marginal effects on probabilities in the tobit model suggest that postgraduate degree holders, households who are using wetland as education, research and agricultural purposes play significant roles in residents' WTP for protect wetland. Thus, higher educated households was found to have a positive response on willingness to pay for protect wetlands in the country. On the other hand, households who were used wetland for agricultural purposes have a negative response on willingness to pay for wetland protect practices.