Opportunity cost, willingness to pay and cost benefit analysis of a community forest of Nepal

Authors

  • Anup KC Amrit Campus, Tribhuvan University, Thamel, Kathmandu
  • Ganesh Raj Joshi Ministry of Forest and Soil Conservation, Government of Nepal, Kathmandu
  • Suman Aryal University of Southern Queensland and Australian Centre for Sustainable Catchments (ACSC), Toowoomba

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.3126/ije.v3i2.10522

Keywords:

Community Forest management, Opportunity cost, Willingness to pay, Cost benefit analysis, Nepal

Abstract

One of the major policies in response to global climate change is reduction of green house gases emission. Community forests of Nepal are acting as major sources and sink of green house gases, in spite of providing socio-economic benefits to the user groups. There is a lack of information on whether community forests address the socio-economic disparity of user groups, and how it affects opportunity cost and willingness to pay to the forest users groups. Focusing on how the socio-economic conditions of forest users affect forest management, opportunity cost and willingness to pay; and effect of carbon trading mechanism and discounting on the cost benefit ratio, this study was carried out in one CF in western Nepal. The data collection methods included carbon stock measurement, household survey, focus group discussion and key informant interview. Study has shown that most of the forest users are in medium and poor economic classes and female involvement in forest conservation and management was remarkable. Poor people had high dependency on forest product and are most likely affected in terms of opportunity cost. Rich people were willing to pay more to sustain forest ecosystem services. Benefit cost ratio measured directly with and without discounting was 3.91 and 2.97, respectively. The findings of the present study indicate that the community forests users groups are benefitted from the current state of management.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/ije.v3i2.10522

International Journal of the Environment Vol.3(2) 2014: 108-124

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Published

2014-05-30

How to Cite

KC, A., Joshi, G. R., & Aryal, S. (2014). Opportunity cost, willingness to pay and cost benefit analysis of a community forest of Nepal. International Journal of Environment, 3(2), 108–124. https://doi.org/10.3126/ije.v3i2.10522

Issue

Vol. 3 No. 2 (2014)

Section

Research Papers

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