This paper develops a choice experiment method to assess the potential for sustainable management of a freshwater system, the Danda River, in Nepal. We use a primary survey data from 637 households, and the empirical analysis is conducted using the Generalized Multinomial Logit (GMNL) model. The findings indicate substantial demand for restoration of the Danda River, and it is indicative of the local public's preferences for an improvement in the Danda river ecosystem. Households were willing to pay up to $1.63/year to move away from the status quo level of services in the Danda River. Our analysis incorporates the respondents' preference uncertainty, and we also explore the presence of spatial heterogeneity using the method of hot spot analysis. We find the inclusion of preference uncertainty slightly increased the precision of the marginal willingness to pay estimates, while the hot spot analysis indicates that heterogeneity in preferences for the ecosystem services surfaces primarily from an urban center. Finally, results also indicates that households prefer community-based management of the Danda River, which highlights the need for policymakers to decentralize their management to the local communities so as to enhance interest in conservation of common pool resources like river ecosystems.

中文翻译：

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尼泊尔丹达盆地河流修复的公众偏好：一项选择实验研究

本文开发了一种选择实验方法，以评估尼泊尔丹达河淡水系统可持续管理的潜力。我们使用来自 637 户家庭的初步调查数据，并使用广义多项式 Logit (GMNL) 模型进行实证分析。调查结果表明，修复丹达河的需求很大，也表明了当地公众对改善丹达河生态系统的偏好。家庭愿意支付高达 1.63 美元/年的费用来摆脱丹达河的现状服务水平。我们的分析结合了受访者的偏好不确定性，我们还使用热点分析的方法探索了空间异质性的存在。我们发现包含偏好不确定性略微提高了边际支付意愿估计的精度，而热点分析表明生态系统服务偏好的异质性主要来自城市中心。最后，结果还表明，家庭更喜欢以社区为基础的丹达河管理，这凸显了决策者需要将其管理下放到当地社区，以提高对河流生态系统等公共水池资源保护的兴趣。