Stated Preferences Modeling: The Case of the Shadegan Wetland

One of the important aspects of the management of wetlands in possession of various aspects of their economic value, which indicates the importance of natural resources for the residents of a region or country. In general, wetlands benefits are divided into two categories of use and non-use. This study sought nonuse value of the wetland through modeling preferences and willingness to pay is calculated and put at the disposal of policy makers and society. In this regard, using the choice experiment, the nonuse value of Shadegan wetlands was estimated. Therefore, the design and implementation of the choice experiment and completing 120 questionnaires in Ahvaz and Abadan, combined with a random coefficient logit model estimate values for wetland features include biodiversity, ecological function, educational services and natural scenary were estimated. The values obtained were extended to the whole society the enjoyment of these blessings. The results showed that all variables of the model (including wetland features and price) statistically significant at 95 percent and have expected signs. The estimated marginal willingness to pay for nonuse benefits suggest that the value of the improve the quality of each wetland features for people who wish to visit wetlands in the future is not significant. Calculations showed that the value of wetland benefits is equal to 4,303,395,852,380,952 Rials. So, by adding this value to the province's gross domestic product, the share of the wetland benefits is more than 2 percent. The numbers showed the importance of wetlands for society as well as the susceptibility of the conditions to comply with its conservation policies.