Forest ecosystem services are critical for human well-being as well as the functioning and growth of economies. However, despite the growing demand for these services, they are hardly given due consideration in public policy formulation. The values attached to these services by local communities in developing countries are also generally unknown. Using a case study of the Mau forest conservancy in Kenya, this study applied choice experiment techniques to estimate the value attached to salient forest ecosystem services by forest-adjacent communities.

Highlights

• Farmers would rather receive compensation for soil and water conservation works than biodiversity.

• Significant costs can be shared by farmers for forest conservation.

• Investments in forestland create incentives for farmers to sustainably use forests.

• Accounting for heterogeneity allows better estimation of willingness to accept.