Determining of payments for ecosystem services for rural activities: Example of reducing the forest fire risk through raising of small ruminant in forest lands

Forest fires negatively affect forest ecosystems, cause a decrease in the goods and services attained by humans from forest ecosystems, and pose a danger to human life. Many countries have focused on less costly fire prevention activities before forest fires start, instead of extinguishing activities that reach high costs after forest fires. In this context, practices are carried out to remove combustible material by grazing animals in forest areas. In this study, the effect of small ruminant grazing in forest areas in the Western Mediterranean Region on the prevention of forest fires was investigated. In order to estimate the economic value of small ruminat grazing for preventing forest fires, the Contingent Valuation Method was used in the study. The data were collected by a survey study. Analyses of the data were carried out using the Chi-square test, Kruskal-Wallis test, Correlation Analysis, and Multiple Linear Regression Analysis methods through the Statistical Package for Social Sciences 20.0. In the Western Mediterranean Region of Türkiye, the average payment tendency has been estimated as 4.34₺ for the activity of removing the amount of combustible material in 1 hectare of forest land by a small ruminat by goat grazing in legal grazing areas. The amount of ecosystem services to be paid to the small ruminat owners in exchange for the amount of combustible biomas removed in a 1 hectare area by General Directorate of Forest (GDF) has been estimated as 17.36₺. Total Economic Value is estimated as 10 996 722.38₺/year.