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An Assessment of Urban and Per-Urban Household’s Willingness to Participate in Urban Forest Conservation Practice in Assosa District, Western Ethiopia

Received: 9 October 2023    Accepted: 31 October 2023    Published: 17 November 2023
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Abstract

Urban forests is networks or systems comprising all woodlands, street trees, trees in parks, trees in derelict corners and gardens group of trees, and individual trees found in urban and per-urban areas. In developing country particularly in Ethiopia urban forests provides environmental, social, and economic benefits to urban resident. Despite all this importance to the livelihood of the urban communities, urban forests in Assosa Woreda are facing artificial and natural challenges. Therefore; This study was intended for the assessment of urban and per- urban households’ willingness to donate money for conservation of urban forest ecosystem; in Assosa woreda, Western Ethiopia with the specific objectives of exploring the amount of money urban and per-urban household’s would be willing to donate for urban forest conservation and identifying those factors affecting urban and per-urban households willingness to donate money for urban forest conservation. Data for the study were composed from primary and secondary sources through semi structured questioner via face to face interview. Besides, data were collected using household surveys, focus group discussions, and key informant interviews. Multistage random-sampling procedures were used in selecting 392 respondent followed by a probability proportion to size. The value-elicitation used was double bounded dichotomous elicitation format followed by open ended questions. The data were analyzed by descriptive statistics and econometric model. The result of seemingly unrelated bivariate probit model displays the mean willingness to donate money for the conservation of urban forest was found to be 60 birr per year per household. The result from tobit model indicated that household's literacy status, total annual income, land size, access to credit had positive significant effects on willing to donate money for urban forest conservation and the age of the respondent had a negative and significant effect on willingness to donate money for urban forest conservation. The study shows that the urban and per-urban households has willingness of donating money toward urban forestry conservation programs and they have important information that can help local decision makers to increase the efficiency of urban forest growing, maintenance, and promotion. As policy implications, an effort would be needed to strengthen literacy which increase urban household’s knowledge about the importance of conservation practices and credit facilities expansion are important.

Published in International Journal of Economy, Energy and Environment (Volume 8, Issue 6)
DOI 10.11648/j.ijeee.20230806.11
Page(s) 129-140
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Urban Forest, Conservation, Seemingly Unrelated Bivariate Probit Model, Tobit Model, Willingness to Pay, Willingness to Donate

References
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  • APA Style

    Romanu Benti, T., Zelalam Gasisa, S. (2023). An Assessment of Urban and Per-Urban Household’s Willingness to Participate in Urban Forest Conservation Practice in Assosa District, Western Ethiopia. International Journal of Economy, Energy and Environment, 8(6), 129-140. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijeee.20230806.11

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    ACS Style

    Romanu Benti, T.; Zelalam Gasisa, S. An Assessment of Urban and Per-Urban Household’s Willingness to Participate in Urban Forest Conservation Practice in Assosa District, Western Ethiopia. Int. J. Econ. Energy Environ. 2023, 8(6), 129-140. doi: 10.11648/j.ijeee.20230806.11

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    AMA Style

    Romanu Benti T, Zelalam Gasisa S. An Assessment of Urban and Per-Urban Household’s Willingness to Participate in Urban Forest Conservation Practice in Assosa District, Western Ethiopia. Int J Econ Energy Environ. 2023;8(6):129-140. doi: 10.11648/j.ijeee.20230806.11

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ijeee.20230806.11,
      author = {Teha Romanu Benti and Shafe Zelalam Gasisa},
      title = {An Assessment of Urban and Per-Urban Household’s Willingness to Participate in Urban Forest Conservation Practice in Assosa District, Western Ethiopia},
      journal = {International Journal of Economy, Energy and Environment},
      volume = {8},
      number = {6},
      pages = {129-140},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ijeee.20230806.11},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijeee.20230806.11},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijeee.20230806.11},
      abstract = {Urban forests is networks or systems comprising all woodlands, street trees, trees in parks, trees in derelict corners and gardens group of trees, and individual trees found in urban and per-urban areas. In developing country particularly in Ethiopia urban forests provides environmental, social, and economic benefits to urban resident. Despite all this importance to the livelihood of the urban communities, urban forests in Assosa Woreda are facing artificial and natural challenges. Therefore; This study was intended for the assessment of urban and per- urban households’ willingness to donate money for conservation of urban forest ecosystem; in Assosa woreda, Western Ethiopia with the specific objectives of exploring the amount of money urban and per-urban household’s would be willing to donate for urban forest conservation and identifying those factors affecting urban and per-urban households willingness to donate money for urban forest conservation. Data for the study were composed from primary and secondary sources through semi structured questioner via face to face interview. Besides, data were collected using household surveys, focus group discussions, and key informant interviews. Multistage random-sampling procedures were used in selecting 392 respondent followed by a probability proportion to size. The value-elicitation used was double bounded dichotomous elicitation format followed by open ended questions. The data were analyzed by descriptive statistics and econometric model. The result of seemingly unrelated bivariate probit model displays the mean willingness to donate money for the conservation of urban forest was found to be 60 birr per year per household. The result from tobit model indicated that household's literacy status, total annual income, land size, access to credit had positive significant effects on willing to donate money for urban forest conservation and the age of the respondent had a negative and significant effect on willingness to donate money for urban forest conservation. The study shows that the urban and per-urban households has willingness of donating money toward urban forestry conservation programs and they have important information that can help local decision makers to increase the efficiency of urban forest growing, maintenance, and promotion. As policy implications, an effort would be needed to strengthen literacy which increase urban household’s knowledge about the importance of conservation practices and credit facilities expansion are important.
    },
     year = {2023}
    }
    

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  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - An Assessment of Urban and Per-Urban Household’s Willingness to Participate in Urban Forest Conservation Practice in Assosa District, Western Ethiopia
    AU  - Teha Romanu Benti
    AU  - Shafe Zelalam Gasisa
    Y1  - 2023/11/17
    PY  - 2023
    N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijeee.20230806.11
    DO  - 10.11648/j.ijeee.20230806.11
    T2  - International Journal of Economy, Energy and Environment
    JF  - International Journal of Economy, Energy and Environment
    JO  - International Journal of Economy, Energy and Environment
    SP  - 129
    EP  - 140
    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2575-5021
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijeee.20230806.11
    AB  - Urban forests is networks or systems comprising all woodlands, street trees, trees in parks, trees in derelict corners and gardens group of trees, and individual trees found in urban and per-urban areas. In developing country particularly in Ethiopia urban forests provides environmental, social, and economic benefits to urban resident. Despite all this importance to the livelihood of the urban communities, urban forests in Assosa Woreda are facing artificial and natural challenges. Therefore; This study was intended for the assessment of urban and per- urban households’ willingness to donate money for conservation of urban forest ecosystem; in Assosa woreda, Western Ethiopia with the specific objectives of exploring the amount of money urban and per-urban household’s would be willing to donate for urban forest conservation and identifying those factors affecting urban and per-urban households willingness to donate money for urban forest conservation. Data for the study were composed from primary and secondary sources through semi structured questioner via face to face interview. Besides, data were collected using household surveys, focus group discussions, and key informant interviews. Multistage random-sampling procedures were used in selecting 392 respondent followed by a probability proportion to size. The value-elicitation used was double bounded dichotomous elicitation format followed by open ended questions. The data were analyzed by descriptive statistics and econometric model. The result of seemingly unrelated bivariate probit model displays the mean willingness to donate money for the conservation of urban forest was found to be 60 birr per year per household. The result from tobit model indicated that household's literacy status, total annual income, land size, access to credit had positive significant effects on willing to donate money for urban forest conservation and the age of the respondent had a negative and significant effect on willingness to donate money for urban forest conservation. The study shows that the urban and per-urban households has willingness of donating money toward urban forestry conservation programs and they have important information that can help local decision makers to increase the efficiency of urban forest growing, maintenance, and promotion. As policy implications, an effort would be needed to strengthen literacy which increase urban household’s knowledge about the importance of conservation practices and credit facilities expansion are important.
    
    VL  - 8
    IS  - 6
    ER  - 

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Author Information
  • Natural Resource Economics and Management, Assosa Agricultural Technical and Vocational Education Training College, Assosa, Ethiopia

  • Agricultural Economics, Assosa University, Assosa, Ethiopia

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