VALUING COMMUNITY'S WILLINGNESS TO PAY FOR WETLAND CONSERVATION FUND TOWARD SUSTAINABLE FINANCING MECHANISM: A CASE OF RED RIVER ESTUARY, VIETNAM

Protecting and restoring wetland resources significantly improve the lives of people and contribute to climate change adaptation in Vietnam. With a long coastline, coastal wetland resources in Vietnam are very rich but are under serious pressure from development activities. This paper assesses the perception of households about wetland values and their willingness to pay for conserving wetlands by communities at Tien Hai Natural Reserve in the Red River estuary. The study used Contingent Valuation Method (CVM) for willingness to pay estimation. We implemented a survey of 450 households in the buffer zone of the reserve area. Research results showed that local villagers were highly aware of the importance of wetlands, especially the values of wetlands in livelihood supporting and future generation bequest. Community payment for wetland conservation was estimated at 280.1 VND thousand/household/year (1 USD = 24.500 VND) in parametric model and 275.1 VND thousand/household/year in non-parametric model. Bid levels, income, awareness, and education were the main factor affecting positively people probability of payment. The research also raised recommendations to help wetland managers selecting appropriate policies and mechanisms to conserve values of wetlands for communities and society.