Payment for ecosystem services :

Abstract

The study analyzed the suitability of payment for ecosystem services for Lake Nakuwa watershed protection in Kaliro District. The Specific objectives were to estimate the community's willingness to participate in PES, willingness to pay and willingness to accept compensation for Lake Nakuwa watershed protection. The study adopted a survey research design, Primary data were collected using questionnaires. Data collected were managed using MS EXCEL and SPSS. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics and regression to determine the factors influencing the local community's willingness to participate in PES, WTP and WTA compensation for watershed protection. The study findings revealed that 886% of respondents were willing to participate in PES scheme.as a community, 51.4% were willing to pay for watersheds protection and 74.3% were willing to accept compensation for watershed protection. The study further revealed the mean WTA as 706/966 Uganda shillings and the total WTA of 4,519,755,481 Uganda shillings obtained through multiplying the mean WTA with number of households (6,393.8) in upstream. Given as total WTA= (706,896.6 * 6093.8), The findings. also revealed the mean WTP as 5,892.9 Uganda shillings with the total WTP of 67,276.882 Uganda shillings obtained through multiplying the mean WTP with number of household (11,416.6) in upstream area. Given as total WTP= (5,892.9 * 11,416.6). The study concludes that local communities are. willing to protect. the Lake Nakuwa -watershed. The study recommends -that public awareness about watershed management should be under taken. Key words: Lake Nakuwa, watershed protection, CVW, WTP and WTA.