Recreational value of Nabovat Park of Karaj based on contingent valuation

Although environmental plans performance, development of green areas and provision of recreational facilities for filling leisure time are necessary, lack of financial resources for reviving and providing appropriate recreational facilities makes natural resources management not only to evaluate these resources but also use people's contribution in order to conserve and revive these areas. Therefore, this research will discuss an assessment of the outdoor recreational value of Nabovat Park in order to estimate a visitors' willingness to pay (WTP) for recreational benefits, based on contingent valuation (CV) and dichotomous choice. For determination of visitors' willingness to pay Logit model was employed, the estimation parameters being based on methods of maximum likelihood (ML). The results indicate that 72% of visitors are willing to pay for recreational values at the Nabovat Park. People is willing to pay 3300 Rials for per visit of the park. The total recreational annual value was estimated at 140,049,660.7 Rials/ha for the park. Consequently, results show that people care about urban green areas.