Willingness of payment for forest environmental services: a systematic literature review for determinants

ABSTRACT

Payment for forest environmental services (PFES) has been adopted worldwide to deal with deforestation and forest degradation. This paper seeks to provide a systematic review of the determinants with significant influence on the willingness to pay (WTP) for forest environmental services to aid in the selection of variables during study design and data collection process. Thirty-five studies were carefully selected among hundreds of articles written on PFES to take stock of the determinants as well as the ways through which WTP is measured. The systematic review, employing a meta-analytical approach, identified fifty-seven WTP determinants classified into four thematic domains: (i) socio-economic characteristics, (ii) psychological and attitudinal factors, (iii) attributes, and (iv) other factors. Our findings indicate that socio-economic and psychological-attitudinal factors constitute the two predominant groups of determinants. The complex causal relationship between these factors suggests a need for considering their interplay when constructing models to explain WTP. Currently, only a small fraction of studies has been found to adequately incorporate behavioural theories into their analyses, indicating a need to integrate alternative behaviour frameworks and a more intricate sets of determinants into modelling for WTP analysis. The paper underscores consistent trends in key WTP determinants, informing the design of PFES programs and policies. It also identifies underused variables with significant impacts on WTP for PFES, stressing the need for their inclusion in assessments. Future research should explore WTP determinants among various ecosystem service buyers and consider combination of different WTP formats to enhance PFES effectiveness and long-term sustainability.

KEYWORDS:

• Determinants
• ecosystem service
• forest
• willingness to pay

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This research has been done under the research project QG.21.62 “Willingness to Pay for Mangrove Forest Environmental Services (PFES) in Hai Phong City, Vietnam” of Vietnam National University, Hanoi.