Economic valuation of Zarivar Wetland, Iran

Wetlands have many valuable services, benefiting human life in so many ways. Wetlands all over the world are under serious threat from a diverse range of non-sustainable activities. One of the most important reasons for excessive depletion is due to underestimating the non-market values of wetlands. Zarivar Wetland is located on west Zagros mountain chains in the west of Iran, with its diverse flora and fauna, the Zarivar Wetland is recognized as one of Iran's unique natural heritage sites. This wetland has faced a lot of threats such as pressure resulting from the wastewater discharge from adjacent populated areas, chemical fertilizers and pesticides from farmland, improper solid waste management. These threats are devastating its ecological and environmental quality. The objective of this study is to estimate the non-market values of the Zarivar Wetland, employing dichotomous choice CVM approach to find out the people preferences and WTP for wetland conservation through questionnaire. Donation is preferred as a payment vehicle. Single-bounded DC-CVM was employed to estimate the non-market values of the wetland. A hypothetical market was designed to derive the respondent’s “Yes” or “No” answers regarding their willingness to pay for wetland conservation.The mean WTP was estimated RLs 20,152 (US$1.64), per month per household [RLs 241824 (US$19.72) annually].By considering the number of households in the study area 153,271 people, the DC-CVM mean WTP to the study area resulted in RLs 3,088,717,192(US$ 251,943.51) for per month. By transforming the result to the annual base would be RLs 37,064,606,304 (US$ 3,023,214.21).