Abstract
This study implements a choice experiment to examine the willingness to pay for improved water supply and forest use currently degraded due to mining activities, with a specific focus on how different household groups near coal mines value these services. The survey sample comprised 419 households in Moatize, Mozambique. Overall, the estimation results obtained via a latent class conditional logit model indicate that four classes of households exist, with different preferences across classes. The main drivers of class membership include gender, income, education and age. All classes express dissatisfaction with the status quo, and improvements in water supply is generally highly valued. However, the four groups in some cases express quite different valuations of the proposed improvements. Development interventions attempting to address the environmental impacts of mining should therefore consider the heterogeneous preferences of the intended beneficiaries, and how experiences from previous interventions are likely to affect attitudes toward new interventions.
