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A significant portion of the world's forests that are eligible for Reducing Emission from Deforestation and Forest Degradation, known as REDD+, payments are community managed forests. However, there is little knowledge about preferences of households living in community managed forests for REDD+ contracts, or the opportunity costs of accepting REDD+ contracts for these communities. This paper uses a choice experiment survey of rural communities in Nepal to understand respondents' preferences toward the institutional structure of REDD+ contracts. The sample is split across communities with community managed forests groups and those without community managed forest groups to see how prior involvement in community managed forest groups affects preferences. The results show that respondents care about how the payments are divided between households and communities, the severity of restrictions on firewood use, the restrictions on grazing, and the fairness of access to community managed forest resources as well as the level of payments. The preferences for REDD contracts are in general similar between community managed and non-community managed forest resource respondents, but there are differences, in particular with regard to how beliefs influence the likelihood of accepting the contracts. Finally, the paper finds that the opportunity cost of REDD+ payments, although cheaper than many other carbon dioxide abatement options, is higher than previously suggested in the literature.

Agriculture --- Environment

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This paper informs the national and international policy discussions related to the adoption of the United Nations Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation Programme. Effective program instruments must carefully consider incentives, opportunity costs, and community interactions. A choice experiment survey was applied to rural Ethiopian communities to understand respondents' preferences toward the institutional structure of the program contracts. The results show that respondents have particular preferences about how Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation programs are structured with regard to the manner in which the payments are divided between the households and the communities, the restrictions on using grazing land, and the level of payments received for the program. Surprisingly, restrictions on firewood collection do not significantly impact contract choice. The paper further analyzes the structure of the preferences by using attribute interaction terms and socio-demographic interaction terms. The analysis finds significant regional variation in preferences, indicating that Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation should be tailored to specific regions. Finally, the marginal willingness to pay for attributes is calculated using the traditional preference space approach, as well as the more recent willingness-to-pay approach.

Agriculture --- Environment --- Macroeconomics and Economic Growth

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A significant portion of the world's forests that are eligible for Reducing Emission from Deforestation and Forest Degradation, known as REDD+, payments are community managed forests. However, there is little knowledge about preferences of households living in community managed forests for REDD+ contracts, or the opportunity costs of accepting REDD+ contracts for these communities. This paper uses a choice experiment survey of rural communities in Nepal to understand respondents' preferences toward the institutional structure of REDD+ contracts. The sample is split across communities with community managed forests groups and those without community managed forest groups to see how prior involvement in community managed forest groups affects preferences. The results show that respondents care about how the payments are divided between households and communities, the severity of restrictions on firewood use, the restrictions on grazing, and the fairness of access to community managed forest resources as well as the level of payments. The preferences for REDD contracts are in general similar between community managed and non-community managed forest resource respondents, but there are differences, in particular with regard to how beliefs influence the likelihood of accepting the contracts. Finally, the paper finds that the opportunity cost of REDD+ payments, although cheaper than many other carbon dioxide abatement options, is higher than previously suggested in the literature.

Agriculture --- Environment

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There is a growing effort in the non-market valuation literature toward better understanding of the stability and evolution of preferences over time. The study uses a novel approach combining a repeated choice experiment with a randomized controlled trial on stove adoption in Ethiopia to analyze the stability and evolution of preferences. The treatment group in the randomized controlled trial received an improved fuelwood stove with less fuelwood use, whereas the control group continued to use traditional cooking methods. Respondents were given the exact same choice questions in 2013 and 2016. The study began with 504 households in 36 communities in 2013, and 486 of the same households participated in 2016 (a 96 percent retention rate). The results show that preferences of the respondents from the control group are stable over the study period, while preferences of the respondents from the treatment group evolve. Moreover, households in the treatment group still using the stoves have significantly higher willingness to pay for all the stove's attributes in 2016 compared with 2013, indicating how longer experience can increase the willingness to pay for technology with environmentally preferable attributes.

Choice Experiment --- Cooking Technology --- Cookstoves --- Energy --- Energy and Poverty Alleviation --- Energy Conservation and Efficiency --- Energy Efficiency --- Inequality --- Poverty Reduction --- Preferences --- Psychology --- Social Development