Estimation of the preservation value of environmental resources, [case study: miankaleh international wetland]

ABSTRACT

According to importance of Environmental resource in preservation of natural ecosystems and human life, restriction on destruction is necessary. Miankaleh wetland in Mazandaran province is the settlement of animal and herbaceous rare species. This research will discuss determination of preservation value in Miankaleh international wetland and measure of individual's willingness to pay [WTP] for Preservation benefits based on contingent valuation [CV] and questionnaire dichotomous choice. For measuring the individual's WTP, Logit model was used. The estimation parameters are based on methods of maximum likelihood. Results show that 68.3% individuals have willing to pay for preservation of the Miankaleh wetland. According to the results, by increasing one unit in Bid, probability of acceptance is decreased equal to 0.924 percentages for preservation of Miankale Wetland. The annual mean of WTP for Preservation of this wetland is US $ 0.74 per household and US $ 2271.74 per hectare. Most important effective variables are bid quantity, individual income, sex, education and jobs for preservation of this wetland. It can be concluded that by application ofthe results ofthis study, a suitable price policy can be taken for preservation of Miankaleh. The effective role of environmental resources on sustainable development trend has turned the focus of economists on the non market aspects of these resources. Due to the indirect role of environmental resources on supplying enormous benefits for society, it is needed to fully understand the function and services which have been provided by them. During last decades, several studies have been performed to evaluate natural resources values [Hadker and et al. 1997; Muramira, 2000; Lehtonen and et al. 2003; Amirnejad and et al. 2006; Shrestha and et al. 2007; Amimejad, 2007; Amimejad and Khalilian, 2006; Asgari and Mehregan, 200]. In this regard, wetlands are considered as the most beneficial ecosystems in which have been dramatically damaged during the time. There are several national and international wetlands in Iran in which Miankaleh is on of the most important one and is considered as a wild life sanctuary and was listed as a preserved area in 1969. Furthermore, regarding its ecological characteristics, this wetland has been chosen as a maternity site by many endangered animal and herbaceous species, specifically aquatic migrant birds. In fact, Miankaleh wetland and the Anzli wetland are two international wetlands in northern part of Iran. This wetland is benefiting from some specific natural characteristics and hence considering as one of the major fauna and flora habitat in Iran and even in the world. Meiankaleh as a preserved area is consist of both terrestrial and aquatic environment in total area of about 67349 ha, located in the far east of Mazandaran province and partially in wets of Golestan province. Contingent Valuation Method [CVM] is widely used for evaluation of environmental services and benefits. Such a method, determine the factor of willingness to pay [WTP] in form of virtual accessories [Lee and Han, 2002]. CVM is based on referring to the public in order to determine the economical value of environmental services, hence, this method is known as preference method: