| Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 83161 | Applied Geography | 2016 | 10 Pages |
•This study identified and ranked ecosystem services at the watershed level.•This study investigated the willingness to pay of downstream users for ecosystem services.•Based on this ranking, forests offered the maximum number of ecosystem goods and services.•Local people identified 10 ecosystem services and ranked drinking water at the top of the list.•Their willingness to pay increased significantly with the monthly income of a household.
The Chure region of Nepal—the area sandwiched between the hills in the north and the plains in the south—is considered an ecologically fragile, structurally weak, and highly erosion-prone region. The forest in the Chure region provides several ecosystem services to people living in the downstream areas. However, assessment and quantification of ecosystem services in this region are very limited. This study, conducted in a watershed of the Chure region of western Nepal, combined local users' perspectives with experts' opinions to identify and rank ecosystem services based on land use types, to investigate the downstream users' willingness to pay for ecosystem services, and to explore the socio-economic factors affecting their willingness to pay. The study found that forests offered the highest number of ecosystem goods and services in this area. Local people were familiar with 10 different ecosystem services provided by the watershed and ranked drinking water service at the top. The downstream beneficiaries would be willing to pay a higher amount for drinking water service than they were currently paying if the quality of the service and its sustainability were assured. The amount they were willing to pay for ecosystem services increased significantly with monthly income. The results of this study are useful for other areas in which an upstream–downstream linkage exists and the upstream communities play a crucial role in maintaining ecosystem functions and the resulting supply of ecosystem services to the downstream communities.
