Factors affecting public participation in river ecosystem restoration: using the contingent valuation method

Understanding public support for ecosystem restoration is critical to its successful implementation because the sustainability of sound resource management is rooted in stakeholders’ support. The contingent valuation method was used to measure participants’ willingness to contribute, both in the form of money and time, to the restoration of an impaired river ecosystem. Data for this research was collected from the adult population of Dhaka City, located in the dying Buriganga River catchment. A study on the hypothetical restoration of this vulnerable urban river in Bangladesh showed that this new approach to framing the valuation questions generated greater contribution from the community. This approach was found suitable in the developing country setting where many of the participants’ ‘disposable income’ did not reflect their real earnings as the labour market was not fully monetized. This research finds strong support among residents for, and willingness to participate in, the restoration of the impaired ecosystem. The results from the logistic regression lend support to the hypothesis that a significant relationship exists between residents’ willingness to participate in restoration and their socio-demographic and perceptional characteristics. The information generated from this study will be helpful for better understanding the planning and implementation of ecosystem restoration strategies.