Mekong River Delta farm-household willingness to pay for salinity intrusion risk reduction

Tien Dung Khong, Michael Young, Adam Loch and Jayanthi Thennakoon

Agricultural Water Management, 2018, vol. 200, issue C, 80-89

Abstract: Sea level rise and upstream development is causing salinity intrusion in Vietnam’s Mekong River Delta (MRD) and, as a consequence, agricultural productivity is declining. As the Vietnamese government and local communities search for a solution, it has become apparent that there are insufficient public resources to build the dykes necessary to control this problem. So, we employ a referendum contingent valuation methodology (CVM) to determine whether or not farm households might be willing to pay for part of the cost of a salinity intrusion risk reduction program. We find that farm households are willing to contribute funds to such a program. In areas where salinity intrusion is already reducing productivity, farm households are willing to contribute US$2.58 per month. In areas where salinity intrusion is expected to be reducing productivity by 2030, willingness to contribute is US$1.99 per month. Surprisingly, in MRD areas where salinity intrusion is not expected within the next 15 years, willingness to contribute remains positive at US$1.32 per month. These findings have local, national and international implications that require careful consideration. In passing, we make a methodological observation that a treatment model including ‘do not know’ responses provides consistent results with conventional referendum elicitation procedures.

Keywords: Climate change; Willingness to pay; Referendum (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q51 Q54 Q58 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:agiwat:v:200:y:2018:i:c:p:80-89

DOI: 10.1016/j.agwat.2017.12.010

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