Martinez Cruz, Adan
- Department of Forest Economics, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
- Centro de Investigacion y Docencia Economicas A.C. (CIDE)
Abstract
Cities in drylands are expected to experience increasing challenges when it comes to air pollution. Currently, concentrations of particulate matter in these cities frequently reach dangerous levels. Urban afforestation represents an alternative to increase human health in arid cities via air-filtering and dry deposition. By simulating a non-existing market through a contingent valuation protocol, this study estimates the willingness to contribute monetarily to an urban afforestation scenario in Mexicali -an arid city located at the US-Mexico border. We estimate an average annual willingness to pay (WTP) of (2019) USD 88 per household. Variations in WTP are associated with the respondent's perception of air quality and the presence of respiratory symptoms in the respondent's household. The smallest WTP (USD 75) is reported by those perceiving poor air quality in their neighborhood and with no household members affected by respiratory symptoms. Respondents perceiving good air quality and with at least one household member facing respiratory symptoms report a WTP of USD 99. The highest WTP represents around 0.8 % of the annual household income. This WTP, when extrapolated to and aggregated over the total number of households in Mexicali, justifies the implementation of an urban afforestation program supplying 30 thousand tree seedlings annually.
Keywords
Air quality; Arid cities; Contingent valuation; Mexicali; Respiratory symptoms; Urban afforestation
Published in
Urban Forestry and Urban Greening
2020, volume: 55, article number: 126854
SLU Authors
Global goals (SDG)
SDG11 Sustainable cities and communities
UKÄ Subject classification
Economics
Publication identifier
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ufug.2020.126854
Permanent link to this page (URI)
https://res.slu.se/id/publ/107765