Determinants of Residents’ Willingness to Accept and Their Levels for Ecological Conservation in Ganjiang River Basin, China: An Empirical Analysis of Survey Data for 677 Households

Using the contingent valuation method and the Heckman two-stage model, we explore residents’ willingness to accept (WTA) compensation and their WTA level for ecological conservation compensation in the upstream of the Ganjiang River Basin in China. The findings reveal that 86.26% of the respondents are willing to accept compensation, and the average compensation level is ¥789.60/household per year. The residents’ gender, annual disposable income, residential location, decision on whether or not the watershed environment is important, and their satisfaction with water quality and quantity are significantly related to their WTA. The influencing factors that significantly affect compensation level are residents’ occupation, educational background, annual disposable income, family size, residential location, decision on whether or not the watershed environment is important, and their satisfaction with water quality and quantity. The results of this empirical research have important policy implications: the government should strengthen advocacy and education of watershed ecological environment protection, intensify farming and other agricultural activities, establish a differentiated and diversified compensation strategy, so as to protect and improve the ecological environment of the Ganjiang River Basin.