People's attitude towards willingness-to-pay for environmental protection in Pakistan

Abstract

Recent environmental research has found that people with higher incomes and in more developed countries are more willing to pay (WTP) to protect their environment than people in developing countries. Based on this assumption, the study investigated Pakistani citizens' attitudes toward environmental protection, precisely their willingness to pay higher prices and taxes to preserve the natural environment. The research was carried out in three Punjab cities (Hasan Abdal, Wah, and Taxila) and four KPK cities (Abbottabad, Havelian, Mansehra, and Haripur). The selected cities are home to knowledgeable people who work in various universities, schools, hospitals, medical colleges, and nearby industrial estates and have a sense of environmental protection and can understand the healthcare issues related to environmental damages. The survey was divided into two sections: one about the participants' socio-demographic information and the other about people's willingness to pay higher prices and taxes to protect the environment. Four hundred and sixty-two people took part in the survey, and the data were analyzed using the bootstrap regression approach. The results show that gender has a detrimental impact, although population density and education positively impact a country's willingness to pay for environmental protection (WTPEP). Women are more likely to engage in pro-environmental behavior than men, resulting in disparities in their perceptions of male and female respondents in the study. People who live in crowded places tend to pay for environmental protection because of population density, healthcare difficulties, and air pollution. The respondents are well-versed in the externalities of environmental pollution; they are hopeful about paying for a better healthcare environment. Other criteria, such as the respondent's income, health status, total pollution level in the country, and per capita income, enable respondents to pay for environmental preservation to achieve long-term sustainable growth. The government must embrace air quality regulations and empower its citizens by offering better healthcare services since they are enthusiastic about paying higher taxes and fees to protect the environment.

Keywords: Education; Environmental protection; Health condition; Pakistan; Population density; Willingness-to-pay.