Willingness to pay for biodiversity conservation in Dachigam National Park, India

Abstract

This study attempts to estimate the household’s Willingness to Pay (WTP) for biodiversity conservation in Dachigam National Park, India. The park houses the last viable population of Asiatic Black Bear and the Hangul. To complement our analysis, we propose a robust estimation of willingness to pay through an augmented probit model. The estimates reveal that respondents were willing to pay a significant amount of money in the form of increasing water rates for improvement in the attributes of the park. Mean Willingness to Pay for the improvements in the park’s attributes turned out to be Rs 245.57 ($ 3.32) per year in the form of increasing water rates. The outcome of this research work has a great potential to contribute to the existing scant economic literature in this area of environmental economics. It provides a quantitative analysis that will facilitate the concerned authorities for better planning and management of the park attributes. Moreover, results may be used as an input for comprehensive and rigorous policy-oriented research work in the area.

Introduction

Biodiversity in a general sense is the copious variability of living organisms found in different forms and functionality: molecular, organismic, population, species, and ecosystem. It is increasingly getting acknowledged now that the species richness forming the biodiversity is a vital indicator of the Planet’s fine feather and as such sustainability of human communities (Hanley and Perrings, 2019). The existing levels of biodiversity losses are becoming ubiquitous hence potentially catastrophic for habitat integrity as well as species (OECD, 2019)¹ . Such alarming loss of biodiversity as natural/community assets if not contained immediately will led to a two-third decline in the total biodiversity assets while rendering survival of other species susceptible and our own future in jeopardy (UN, 2019). The essential effect biodiversity loss, not to mention drastic changes in global climate regimes, on wild populations appears relatively moderate as of now (WWF, 2018; Bellard et al., 2012). Its, however, rapidly diminishing rate could prove detrimental to ecosystem services and decisive as far future of biodiversity performance is concerned. If biodiversity is going to be successfully conserved for the benefit of people and of all lifeforms on Earth, then its empirically accrued direct and indirect values must be incorporated into decision-making (IPBES, 2019). Having no value, or holding arbitrary values, cannot support decision-making that will break the loop whereby economic forces continue to drive the extinction or loss of biodiversity, even though it is clear from the asset valuation approach that it has both the intrinsic and extrinsic value and is valued (Atkinson et al., 2014). The vantage point for such an economic valuation has to come from accounting properly for the benefits that flow from biodiversity-intrinsic and extrinsic values, ecosystem services, heritage, adaptability and resilience. Economic valuation of biodiversity quantifies direct or indirect benefits of the biological diversity (Hanley and Perrings, 2019; Pearce and Moran, 1994). It is one way to capture these benefits received by people through which environmental investments could be determined (Salles, 2011). The monetary value of these biological resources enables the policymakers in understanding/eliciting user-preferences and the nominal values that the current generation places on these environmental goods. It is a vital act for identifying nature’s true- use and non-use- values and efficient medium for communicating the nature’s indispensability specifically concerning sustainable human welfare (Sukhdev et al. 2014). Valuation retraces our association with nature; as a waking-up call, it measures the true costs of our actions and choices. Further, it can elicit the economic values linked with the protection of these biological resources, to encourage governments and relevant organizations to consider quantifiable direct (economic) or indirect (cultural and ethical) values of biodiversity CBD, 1992). These are required to provide significant evidence to support policies aiming at the conservation of biological resources. The economic approach of biodiversity considers it as a problem on the grounds of missing market or market failure, of public good and externality (Helm & Hepburn, 2014). Given its public good nature, biodiversity will be either under-provided or over-exploited as little value is captured in the market price. Economics, in this case, can help in identifying, scaling (locally & globally) and then determining the best policy instrument design that can be appropriately pursued so that biodiversity is first reversed and then restored (Rode et al. 2016). Economic valuation of biodiversity is considered as a decisive task to explore the monetary valuation of biodiversity and to operationalize sustainable development as realized by the Brundtland Commission Report (UNEP, 1992). Furthermore, assessment of the money value of biological resources is important to provide incentives and generate expenses for restoration, guide the policymakers to make better-informed decisions and management for example, the concept of payments for ecosystem services (PES).

In the context of middle-income countries like India, biodiversity valuation assumes pivotal significance not that the country is a mega-diverse habitat but more specifically because the extant environmental assets (ecosystems as national parks) have not been put to the empirical test of economic valuation or barely received the desired attention both in research and policy framing. In extreme Northern India, particularly in Jammu and Kashmir, most of these resources have potential use and non-use values. This important dimension has not received ample attention, so there is need for understanding their economic viability and other alternative uses of environmental assets (national parks), which will help in designing effective policies and initiate large scale awareness about them at all levels in the society. Therefore, the aim of this study is to determine residents' willingness to pay for improvement in social, ecological, and economic attributes of Dachigam National Park (DNP). The information collected would help to elucidate the policy, resulting in a stronger management strategy for Dachigam National Park. The contingent valuation scenario presented to the respondents’ outlined the current levels of different attributes of Dachigam National Park like loss of endemic and endangered species particularly the Hangul due to poaching activities; deterioration of park area due to illegal grazing, the encroachment of park areas, rising pollution levels and mismanagement of park affairs as well as proposed joint management for their better management with improved levels. The alarming pattern of species extinction around the region necessitates proper conservation and protection for greater societal wellbeing. Economic valuation of DNP biodiversity in that direction is an apparent necessity for any pragmatic policy design for park biodiversity restoration and management.

The rest of this paper is organized as follows: Subsequent section presents the state of received bodies of accumulated information through literature. Section three describes the location and other features of the study area. Section four discusses the contingent valuation method used in this study and is followed by results and discussion which explains the estimations derived from econometric analysis. Final section accomplishes the paper and summarizes the findings.