Estimating willingness of local communities of the Geno biosphere reserve for financial supports of large mammal’s species

The aim of this research is to determine the willingness to pay (WTP) of local communities in Hormozgan province for the protection of endangered large mammal’s species in Geno protected area and biosphere reserve. In this study, 150 local people in hormozgan province were near the Geno biosphere reserve and protected are as a natural habitat of wildlife, chosen via the simple random sampling and interviews face to face. A questionnaire comprising items about the people’s demographics as well as their willingness to pay for protection of large mammal’s species. Subsequently, analysis of gathering data was carried out with applying a Logit model under maximum likelihood procedure by using SPSS (version 21) and Eviews (8) Software. Result showed that, 78 percent of the local people had positive willingness to pay for protection of large mammal’s species. The average payment of WTP for the monthly and annual protection value of large mammal’s species was estimated 53416.97 RLs (1.65 $) and 641003.7 RLs (19.8 $) respectively. Furthermore, the result showed that the literacy level, membership in environmental organization, species recognize and bid have statistical significant effects on willingness to pay for financial supports of large mammal’s species protection in Geno biosphere reserve.