Public awareness and willingness to pay for ecological services of urban trees in Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria

Abstract

Urban forest trees provide ecological services. This study investigated respondents’ awareness, monetary value, and public perception of the ecological services of urban forest trees in Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria. Stratified random sampling technique was adopted for the study.
Three axes representing 3 strata were selected. Data were collected with the aid of structured questionnaire, administered to 120 respondents.
The willingness to pay (WTP) approach of contingent valuation method (CVM) was employed to elicit monetary values of urban forest trees from respondents using payment card system (PCS). Data were subjected to descriptive and inferential statistical analysis. The results show more male respondents (58.3%)
and mean age of 28 years. Almost half of the respondents (49.2%) were married and 67.5% of them had tertiary education with mean income of ₦36,037.17/month. Above half (55.0%) were willing to pay on monthly basis with a modal value of ₦100 (28.3%). Most respondents (60.0%) preferred voluntary donations as the payment instrument with community involvement. Less than half of the respondents (42.5%) strongly agreed that urban trees provide ecosystem services and were willing to pay for their conservation. Regression analysis shows education, awareness of ecological services (0.140, 0.079) p< 0.05, and income (0.040)
p < 0.1, influence WTP. The study concluded that respondents valued the service provided by the urban trees and were willing to contribute towards its continuous existence.
Suggestions include awareness through the media (electronic and print) on the importance of trees in urban areas as well as participation in tree planting exercise as the practice in the developed world with appropriate policy instrument.