Abstract

The pervasiveness of particulate matter in arid cities has yet to be discussed and tackled. Given that urban trees have been documented to provide air-filtering and dry deposition services, this study documents the stated benefits from an urban afforestation scenario in Mexicali –an arid city located northwest Mexico at the US-Mexico border. Our doublebounded dichotomous contingent valuation protocol yields an estimated average annual willingness to pay (WTP) of USD 88 per household. Variations in the WTP are associated with perception of air quality and presence of respiratory symptoms in the respondent’s household. The smallest WTP (USD 75) is reported by respondents perceiving poor air quality in their neighborhood and with no household members affected by respiratory symptoms. In contrast, respondents perceiving good air quality and with at least one household member facing respiratory symptoms reported a WTP of USD 99. The average stated benefits represent around 0.8% of the annual household income.

Keywords

air quality; PM10; urban afforestation; contingent valuation; arid cities; Mexicali.

Published in

CERE Working Paper
2020, number: 2020:7
Publisher: Department of Economics, Umeå University

SLU Authors

• Martinez Cruz, Adan

  • Department of Forest Economics, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    
  • Centro de Investigacion y Docencia Economicas A.C. (CIDE)

Sustainable Development Goals

Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable


UKÄ Subject classification

Economics


Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/105869