

@mastersthesis {6721,
	title = {Residents{\textquoteright} knowledge, perceptions, attitudes, and willingness to pay for non-point source pollution control: {A} study of {Nansihu} {Lake} watershed, {China}},
	year = {2008},
	note = {3292720},
	school = {The Ohio State University},
	type = {phdPh.{D}.},
	address = {Ann Arbor},
	abstract = {In the past 15 years, China{\textquoteright}s GDP has consistently increased by 8\%-10\% every year, which greatly boosted China{\textquoteright}s economy. At the same time, China suffers from a host of environmental problems which have worsened over the past three decades of economic reform. Non-point source pollution in freshwater has become a striking issue around the country. Motivating residents to actively participate in controlling non-point source pollution through integrative watershed management, is a main goal for the implementation of 11 th Five-Year Plan (FYP, 2006-2010) of China. The objectives of the research were to explore the knowledge and perceptions of the residents about non-point source pollution and community-based watershed management policies within Nansihu Lake watershed of China, their attitudes toward non-point source pollution control and watershed management, the amount of their willing to pay for water quality improvement, the differences among different groups of the residents regarding their knowledge, perceptions, attitudes towards non-point source pollution and watershed management policies, and their willingness to pay for improving water quality, and finally, the socio-economic factors affecting the residents{\textquoteright} willingness to pay. Better understanding of their knowledge and attitudes toward the watershed management will greatly promote the integration of social progress and stability, economic development, and natural resource management in this area. The results indicated that the residents in Nansihu Lake watershed had low level of knowledge and perceptions of non-point source pollution, eutrophication, and community-based watershed management policies. Their attitudes toward the necessity for improving water quality, the relationship between individual responsibility and non-point source pollution control, artificial wetland construction for non-point source pollution control, trust for local, provincial, central government, trust for local environmental groups, and the benefits for non-point source pollution control were very positive. They trusted the central, provincial, and local governments for their efforts to improve environment quality. There was no direct cause and effect between respondents{\textquoteright} knowledge and their attitude. With the combination of two major CVM methods-dichotomous choice and open ended formats, the survey results indicated that the urban respondents{\textquoteright} median WTP was 157.5 (U.S. \$19.69), while suburban and rural respondents{\textquoteright} median WTPs were {\textyen}100 (U.S. \$12.5) and {\textyen}50 (U.S. \$6.25), respectively. 76.1\% of the total respondents in this survey chose 0\%-10\% of their annual income as WTP for improving water quality in Nansihu Lake watershed. The total amount of WTP per year in Nansihu Lake watershed was estimated to be {\textyen}562.63 million (U.S. \$70.33 million). Overall, there was no significant difference between urban and suburban residents in their knowledge, perceptions, and attitudes, but rural residents were significantly different from the two groups above. Relatively, the rural resident group was more concerned about economic development and their own life style than the other two groups. The survey revealed that residents{\textquoteright} yearly income and geographic locations were the main factors affecting residents{\textquoteright} willingness to pay for non-point source pollution control in this area, and there was no significant correlation between residents{\textquoteright} yearly income and their geographic locations. The research implied that (1) it is imperative for the local government to encourage residents to formulate community-based watershed management groups in Nansihu Lake watershed, China, (2) to deal with non-point source pollution, improving local economy and residents{\textquoteright} income, increasing environmental education input, and enhancing residents{\textquoteright} environmental awareness would be an effective approach for improving water quality in Nansihu Lake watershed, (3) full understanding of residents{\textquoteright} knowledge, perceptions, and attitudes toward non-point source pollution control would lay the foundation on sound watershed management policies in Nansihu Lake watershed, and (4) deep understanding of CVM mechanism and well-designed survey questionnaire would be the key to accurately estimating non-market environmental services and goods and residents{\textquoteright} true WTP to deal with non-point source pollution in this watershed.},
	keywords = {0768:Environmental science, China, Environmental attitudes, Environmental science, Health and environmental sciences, Nansihu Lake watershed, Nonpoint source pollution, Watershed management, Willingness to pay},
	url = {http://search.proquest.com/docview/304508211?accountid=14270},
	author = {Hao, Jianjun}
}
