The Economic Value of Biodiversity for Local Livelihoods in Ethiopia

Simien Mountain National Park (SMNP) is one of the world natural heritages inscribed because of its endemic mammals, beautiful landscape and endowed natural resources with rich biodiversity. Though SMNP is under in the list of endanger natural resource by world heritage committee still it has significant importance for its use and non-use values. However, due to human induced problems its value is deteriorating from time to time. Its economic value is also not known as there are little or no studies. Thus, this study estimates the economic value of biodiversity in monetary terms, using MNL and RPL models and also MWTP and welfare impact were estimated. All the attributes were significant in affecting the probability of choosing alternative scenarios. The result reveals respondents are willing to pay Birr 587.03 (26.27 $), 391.62 (17.52 $), and 195.41 (8.74 $) annually for high, medium, and low impact scenarios respectively. The estimated compensating surplus (welfare) for low, medium, and high impact improvement scenario were Birr 7,930,457.50 (354,830.31 $), 15,886,470.95 (710,804.07 $) and 23,812,871.95 (1,065,452.88 $) per year, respectively.

Autorentext

Misganaw Eyassu - B.Sc. M.Sc. in Agricultural Economics. Advisor: Akalu Teshome (PhD) and Abebe Dagnew (Assistant Professor) University of Gondar, Ethiopia.