On Thursday 30 September, the Department of Economics, Faculty of Economics and Business, Universitas Airlangga held a guest lecture on the topic "Watershed Conservation" with the title "Payment for Environment Services: Willingness to Pay for Watershed Preservation" . The guest lecture was part of the Guest Lecture Series in the Inbound Staff of the Department of Economics, FEB UNAIR, presenting a speaker who was a Professor from the Department of Economics, Ateneo de Manila University, namely Rosalina Palanca-Tan, PhD. The presenter presented his research online via Zoom Meeting with the research title "Payment for Environmental Services (PES) The Case of The Cagayan De Oro River Basin Mindanao, Philippines".
Material presentation session by Dr. Rosalina Palanca-Tan, PhD, at a Guest Lecture at the Department of Economics, FEB UNAIR
on September 30 2021. (Photo: SS Zoom).
In the presentation session, Prof. Roalina Palanca-Tan also emphasized that, "Most participants were familiar with the term payment for environmental services (PES), which is a scheme to generate financial resources to fund and reward initiatives to restore and preserve ecosystems".
Apart from that, the object of the research is to estimate the economic value that comes from all the benefits that can be obtained from a sustainable aquatic environment. Specifically, the research location according to these conditions is in the Cagayan de Oro River Basin.
"This research is focused on stakeholder group , namely groups of households who live around the Cagayan River, more precisely in Cagayan de Oro City," said Prof. Rosalina.
Further explanation regarding the importance of calculating profit estimates was also explained by Prof. Rosalina. The reason is because this estimate will be the basis for the amount of funds that can be paid in the PES scheme. In real terms, it can be seen from the lives of residents around the downstream river who get several benefits from existing natural resources such as food supply (fish), flood control, stable clean water supply, recreational activities (white water rafting and others), fresh air. due to carbon absorption by forests, as well as biodiversity.
There is a technique in this research that uses individual respondents' statements or opinions regarding their choice of a set of options. This technique is the Contingent Valuation Method (CVM) which is used to calculate estimated profits.
Prof. non-market assessment technique . In economics, if we want to know the profits obtained from goods or services, we have to look at the market. Because, in the market, every item has a market price. For this, an assessment method is needed non-market to measure profits."
"By directly asking Willingness to Pay , various types of profits obtained can be classified as use values and non-use values ," explained Prof. Rosalina. This can make it easier to calculate the estimated benefits obtained by residents from the surrounding ecosystem so that the amount of funds that should be provided to keep the environment beautiful can be determined.
