DESIGNING AND IMPLEMENTING SURVEYS TO VALUE TROPICAL FORESTS

Abstract

This paper describes a household survey that was used to collect data for valuing protection and recreational use of tropical rainforests in Peninsular Malaysia. The survey was developed and implemented from 2007 till 2010 and was the largest environmental valuation survey ever conducted in Malaysia. It included modules related to both statedpreference valuation (discrete choice experiments; DCEs) and revealed-preference valuation methods (recreation demand models). The first part of this paper covers three issues: development of the survey instrument, design of the DCEs and structure of the instrument. The second part provides details on the survey itself (sample design, survey administration), presents preliminary results and suggests improvements to the survey.