The Economics-Environmental Impacts Analysis of the Promotion of the Wall of Ekbatan Dam in Hamedan

Adverse environmental impacts of dams in the country have became the one of the most controversial issues in various communities. This paper aims to value environmental impacts of Hamden's Ekbatan dam which was implemented in 2007. Environmental impacts of the dam in terms of its specific geographic conditions are evident in the downstream region. The data for this research was collected by using field operation through completing questionnaires with 212 urban households in Hamedan in 2013. For valuing environmental impacts, choice experiment approach was used on the base of stated preferences and two econometric models including conditional and nested logit models. The average marginal willingness to pay for environmental attributes: outdoor recreation, beauty, biodiversity and natural resources conservation were obtained as 10,626, 11,440, 13,738 and 16,776 Rials per month respectively. In order to achieve to the time prior of dam construction, willingness to pay of total urban households to restoring and protection of Ekbatan dam downstream area, was calculated about 118.3 billion Rials per year.