Payment for Environmental Services in Kenya : Household's Willingness To Pay For Forest Conservation

Kenya's indigenous forests continue to face severe degradation from the adjacent communities who depend on the natural resource. Wass (1995) estimated the people living adjacent to forests in Kenya to be approximately 2.9 million. This is almost a tenth of the total population. This book assesses the influence of different socioeconomic factors on Household's Willingness to Pay (WTP) for forest conservation using Contingent Valuation Method (WTP).This book uses a study that was carried out in Mount Elgon District of Kenya using a sample size of 120 households. Multistage and purposive sampling techniques were used. The findings in this book revealed that the level of education, land size under irrigation, distance from water source and the number of livestock had a significant impact on the willingness to pay(WTP) for forest conservation. Policy recommendations towards enhancing forest conservation should target these variables. This book is useful to forest management authorities, conservationists, wildlife experts, agricultural and environmental economics students.