Estimating the Economic Benefits of Jazmourian Wetland Restoration and Preservation Programs: Application of Dichotomous Choice Contingent Valuation method

Wetlands are vital to the supply of valued ecosystem services. The restoration and preservation programs of wetlands will increase the supply of ecosystem services. This paper aimed to estimate the total economic value of the restoration and preservation programs of Jazmourian wetland in Kerman. Data required for the analysis was taken from 312 households interviews in the around regions of Jazmourian wetland in 1396. In the first, this paper employs Cooper's method for optimal survey design for the dichotomous choice contingent valuation method. This method finds the bid amounts as well as the sample size corresponding to each bid. Then, Logit and ordinary least square models were estimated for the total economic value of the wetland restoration and preservation programs. The result shows that, based on the population of Jazmourian wetland around regions, the estimated total economic value of the wetland restoration and preservation programs ranges from 34.412 to 63.566 billion Rials per year. These estimates may be used to justify the level of expenditure on the restoration and preservation programs of Jazmourian wetland.