Local Peoples’ Appreciation on and Contribution to Conservation of Peatland Swamp Forests: Experience from Peninsular Malaysia

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Peatland swamp forests (PSF) deliver a range of beneficial, but often undervalued ecosystem services. In this paper we examined local peoples’ appreciation on the values of PSF and their contribution to conservation. The study was carried out by interviewing 100 respondents living in adjacent to North Selangor PSF and holding three focus group discussions and a few key-informants’ interviews following participatory rural appraisal and contingent valuation methods. Respondents appreciated PSF for direct values including timber, non-timber forest products, source of fish, and water for agriculture. They reported environmental values of PSF like flood prevention, biodiversity conservation, fresh air, soil fertility, perennial water source, and reduction of storm damages. They also reported several health and cultural benefits including sources of medicinal plants, fresh food, and agro-tourism. The monetary values of some benefits were estimated as USD 128/month/family (for fish), USD 128/month/family (agro-tourism) and USD 159,070/year (irrigation). Although direct benefits from PSF were minimal, respondents sincerely wanted to contribute to PSF conservation through participation in community-based rehabilitation project, patrolling and fire protection, tree planting, cash donation, supplying seedlings, and joining in awareness creation programme. The intrinsic values and peoples’ enthusiasm for PSF conservation suggest a community-based approach for sustainable PSF management. © 2017, Society of Wetland Scientists. View source
Year

2017

Secondary Title

Wetlands

Publisher

Springer Netherlands

Volume

37

Number

6

Pages

1067-1077

DOI

http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s13157-017-0941-1

Language

Keyword(s)

Community participation, Direct and indirect benefits, North Selangor, Raja Musa Forest reserve, Willingness to contribute, conservation management, contingent valuation, ecosystem service, environmental values, local participation, nature reserve, participatory rural appraisal, peatland, public attitude, questionnaire survey, sustainable development, swamp forest, Malaysia, Selangor, West Malaysia, Musa, Raja

Classification
Form: Journal Article
Geographical Area: Malaysia

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