Local People’s Attitude and Willingness to Pay for Conservation in Yankari Game Reserve Bauchi, Nigeria

Many people living near protected areas especially in developing countries highly depend on natural resources in their neighbourhood for survival. However, excluding them from the areas’ management and criminalizing their activities has always been a source of conflicts. The present study developed and validate a nine-item construct on a 5-point likert scale to evaluate environmental attitudes among local people and also to examined their willingness to pay (WTP) for conservation in Yankari game reserve. A dichotomous choice contingent valuation questionnaire was administered to 237 households in communities near the game reserve between months of February and March, 2015. The results revealed that 68.4% of the respondents were willing to pay for conservation. From the logit regression estimated, gender, age, income, bid amount and attitudes were the significant predictors of WTP and the mean WTP value was estimated at 594 Naira, (US$ = 3.71) per household per month. The aggregate non-use value was also estimated to be 32 500.116 Naira (US$ = 203,125.73) yearly. Thestudy finding would inform the management of the reserve and policy makers on the importance of integrating local communities in decision making related to resource conservation for efficient and sustainable management of the game reserve.