College students' willingness to pay (wtp) for the social services of trees at the University of Mindanao, Davao City, Philippines

Abstract

The study was conducted to provide information on college students' Willingness to Pay (WTP) for the social services of trees at the University of Mindanao, Davao City, Philippines. The study revealed that most college students (68.5%) were willing to pay (WTP) for the social services provided by trees, while the others (31.5%) declared otherwise. The social services with the highest level of extent of the provision were beautification of the environment (80.9%) and health benefits (80.6%). Php 100.00 was the most preferred amount of WTP indicated by the students, and most of them (68.8%) agreed to include WTP in their matriculation as an environmental fee. The students who disagreed with WTP put lack of financial resources as the main deterrent. The survey revealed that the campus had a sufficient distribution of trees—those who disagreed indicated clearance for construction as the main reason for insufficiency. The Pearson-r result showed no significant relationship on the tested variables, which indicates that the level of extent of social services provided by trees does not directly affect the WTP of college students. The comparison of means determined that the 3rd-year and 4th-year levels were significantly different from the 5th-year level for beautification of the environment and recreation. For landscaping/viewing, the comparison showed that only 4th-year and 5th-year levels were significantly different from each other. It was recommended that the study's findings might help the decision- making policies and courses of action of UM administration concerning the conservation and management of campus trees. The students and future researchers were also urged to advance further the research about the economic valuation of trees.