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Diversifying finance mechanisms for protected areas capitalizing on untapped revenues

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  • Baral, Nabin
  • Dhungana, Anal

Abstract

Protected areas' financial sustainability is critical for improving their effectiveness in conserving biodiversity. This paper aims to estimate visitors' willingness to pay (WTP) higher entry fees to access the Annapurna Conservation Area (ACA) in Nepal, determine variables influencing their WTP decisions, and explore strategies for diversifying ACA's finance mechanisms. Contingent valuation surveys were administered to a random sample of 401 visitors in 2012. About 62% of the visitors were willing to pay higher entry fees than the current US $25 fee. The logit regression results showed that the bid amount, educational attainment and use of a guide were statistically significant predictors of WTP decisions. The mean and median WTP amounts were US $116.7 and US $122, respectively. Ceteris paribus, increasing the entry fee to US $122 would yield about 20million US dollars in surplus revenues in the next 5years, which can be earmarked for establishing a conservation trust fund to diversify ACA's finance mechanisms.

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  • Baral, Nabin & Dhungana, Anal, 2014. "Diversifying finance mechanisms for protected areas capitalizing on untapped revenues," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 60-67.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:forpol:v:41:y:2014:i:c:p:60-67
    DOI: 10.1016/j.forpol.2014.01.002
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    2. Pramod Lamsal & Kishor Atreya & Krishna Prasad Pant & Lalit Kumar, 2016. "Tourism and wetland conservation: application of travel cost and willingness to pay an entry fee at Ghodaghodi Lake Complex, Nepal," Natural Resources Forum, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 40(1-2), pages 51-61, February.
    3. Minh-Hoang Nguyen & Thomas E. Jones, 2022. "Building eco-surplus culture among urban residents as a novel strategy to improve finance for conservation in protected areas," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 9(1), pages 1-15, December.
    4. Kaffashi, Sara & Yacob, Mohd Rusli & Clark, Maynard S. & Radam, Alias & Mamat, Mohd Farid, 2015. "Exploring visitors' willingness to pay to generate revenues for managing the National Elephant Conservation Center in Malaysia," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 9-19.
    5. Kubo, Takahiro & Shoji, Yasushi & Tsuge, Takahiro & Kuriyama, Koichi, 2018. "Voluntary Contributions to Hiking Trail Maintenance: Evidence From a Field Experiment in a National Park, Japan," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 144(C), pages 124-128.
    6. Nguyen, Minh-Hoang, 2023. "Investigating urban residents' involvement in biodiversity conservation in protected areas: Empirical evidence from Vietnam," Thesis Commons z2hjv, Center for Open Science.
    7. Johane Dikgang & Edwin Muchapondwa, 2017. "The determination of park fees in support of benefit sharing in Southern Africa," Tourism Economics, , vol. 23(6), pages 1165-1183, September.

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