Households’ Willingness to Accept Forest Conservation and Ecosystem Services

Abstract

In this study, forest owners’ willingness to accept the governmental redemption of commercial forests for forest conservation, as well as the factors influencing their willingness, was analyzed. It was found that having expected non-timber income from conservation programs, trustable government policies, simpler dealing with government departments for disputes, and satisfactory local ecological condition had strong impacts on the likelihood of participation for the households. If the sum of direct cash compensation incentives and indirect non-timber income compensation incentives was greater than the opportunity costs incurred by forest owners for protection, forest owners were more willing to participate in the redemption. Based on the results, the final offer arbitration method was recommended to improve the maximum price method for redemption, which enables forest owners to receive recognized incentives for direct cash compensation. Ecotourism was strongly recommended to raise forest owners’ expectations of sustainable non-timber income and deliver on such expectations with lower information costs.