APPLICATION OF CONTINGENT VALUATION METHOD FOR VALUATION OF ENVIRONMENTAL GOODS: MATTERS ARISING FROM VALUING A COMMUNITY SWAMP IN AKWA IBOM STATE, NIGERIA
There has been an increasing consciousness of the need to estimate the values of environmental goods to the society, especially since the advent of oil exploration activities and their attendant damage to the environment. The attention however has been more on the market goods than on the non-market goods largely because of man’s tendency to prefer current benefit to future benefit. Also working against the non-market goods is the difficulty in getting a very effective method of valuing them. The use of Contingent Valuation Method (CVM) has been preferred to other methods by many scholars. This study aimed at applying the method to value a swamp with a view to finding out its appropriateness or otherwise. The study adopted a survey design and used a structured questionnaire as the primary source of data collection while the natives of the community constituted the population of the study. Findings revealed that the natives though drew no significant and immediate benefits from the swamp would rather that the swamp remained than being acquired for a wayleave purpose. It also revealed that each of them would be willing to pay an average of N1,844 monthly for its preservation. This itself is the major challenge in the use of the CVM, people saying they would pay as much as N1,844 monthly to preserve a swamp they admitted was not of substantial benefit to them. The study recommends a search for a reliable method
Keywords: Application, contingent valuation method, environmental goods, matters arising, swamp.
