Willingness to Pay for Watershed Improvement in Mekelle City Region: A Policy Implications of Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES schemes)

The purpose of this study was to model the willingness to pay for watershed ecosystem services improvement and analyze factors that affect households’ support decisions. The city of Mekelle is dependent on multiple ecosystem services beyond the city administrative boundary. The data was obtained from a field data among 384 respondents and expert focus group discussion were used as data sources. The house hold survey was analyzed using econometric model and descriptive stastics by utilizing STATA MP v.14.The data revealed that as per the scenario presented the majority of the respondents 352 (91.7%) were willing to support watershed ecosystem services improvement through regular financial fund while 32(8.3%) are not willing to support. The mean WTP is 65.18 Ethiopian birr monthly payment as additional to the current monthly fee of environmental services. Respondents’ willingness to pay was influenced by bid amount, membership in environmental organization, long stay in the city, house ownership and awareness on the concept of watershed. Respondents were willing to pay because they wanted a sustainable ecosystem services supply for the present and future generations. A payment scheme is possible and it could provide a sustainable flow of fund, however, the willingness percentages still needed to be increased. Community education and public awareness is necessary to enhance knowledge and understand about the importance and values of watersheds. The findings from this study provide noteworthy evidences for further research and baseline information for local government in the development of more operative and all-inclusive approaches for improving watershed ecosystem services. Keywords : Econometric model, Payment for ecosystem services, Watershed ecosystem Services, Willingness to Pay DOI: 10.7176/JESD/12-5-03 Publication date: March 31 st 2021