Economic Valuation of Nechisar National Park Ecosystem: Choice Experiment Approach
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Date
2016-06
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
Nechisar National Park is one of the known tourist attraction sites in Ethiopia due to its scenic land features, richness in diversified fauna and flora with some endemic mammals and birds. It was established in 1974 in the Southern Nation Nationality and Peoples of Ethiopia that is located 500kms from Addis Ababa, near Arba Minch town. But this rich ecosystem is endangered due to human encroachment. This is a result of a rapid expansion of Arba Minch town, the formation of state farms which latter privatized, establishment of various institutions, immigrants from the Gamo highlands and residents of Arba Minch town demanding forest production, illegal hunting and using the park for grazing by nearby communities. If the current conditions continue in such way the local community would lose any benefit that they may get from the ecosystem service of the park and the influx of tourists from various corners of the world. Hence, valuation is demanded to influence introduction of eco-tourism service by the stakeholders.
To know the monetary value of Nechisar National Park, Choice experiment technique was applied using primary data collected by intercepting 210 visitors. Of these, 120 were domestic and 90 foreign visitors. Choice experimental model used to elicit tourists’ preferences for improvements of the park’s ecosystem through willingness to pay for attributes such as afforestation, wildlife population and additional services using entrance fee as a vehicle of payment. Multinomial and Random parameter logit model were used for the estimation. The marginal WTP calculated from RPL model for each attribute were approximately 5.2, 8.79, 11.2 in birr for domestic visitors and 7.7, 8.11, 35.87 in birr for foreign visitors per visit per individual respectively for afforestation, wildlife population and additional services. Hence, tourists’ order of preference was additional services, wildlife population and afforestation for both local and foreign tourists. In the meantime, compensating surplus for three improvement scenarios (low, medium and high) were estimated. Hence, the total economic value of the park in terms of welfare estimation from high impact scenario was summed up to be 749,107,667 birr (US $ 35,876,804)
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Natural Resource, Environmental Economics