Journal of Economics and Development Studies

Effect of Collective Action on Willingness to Accept (WTA) in Payment for Environmental Services in Northern Ghana
Evelyn D. Ahiale, PhD

Abstract
The use of payments for environmental service (PES) schemes as an alternative conservation and resource management tool is progressively becoming popular worldwide. Collective action in PES is receiving considerable attention as a way of reducing transaction costs of PES as well as influencing PES success. However, little is known about how collective action will influence the reward to participants. This paper examines the effect of collective action on smallholder farm households‟ willingness-to-accept (WTA) for soil and water conservation technologies, specifically soil and stone bunds, in northern Ghana. Using a hypothetical conservation plan, data were collected from a sample of smallholder farmers through stated choice experiment (CE) and contingent valuation (CV) methods. Bayesian estimation of the mixed logit and interval-data regression models were applied to the CE and CV data respectively to determine the effect of collective action on farmers‟ WTA. Estimates of collective action from both sets of data were found to significantly reduce farmers‟ WTA. For achieving cost effectiveness, careful inclusion of collective action in the design of payment for environmental service schemes in Ghana may offer a means to reduce the amount of reward payment made to resource managers for supplying environmental services (ES).

Full Text: PDF     DOI: 10.15640/jeds.v8n2a8