Application of the travel cost method to urban forests in Johor Bahru

Abstract

Urban forest features so many values. Forest and tree resources have so many benefits and values from a wide range of socio-cultural, economics and environmental values. Travel Cost Method (TCM) was developed to estimate the economic value of environmental goods such as urban forest areas. In this study, the economic value of urban forest has been estimated by using TCM with the case studies of MPJBT Urban Forest and MBJB Urban Forest. 100 sets of questionnaire have been distributed to each site. The number of annual visits made by visitors was used as dependent variable, while travel expenditure to the urban forest, total distance (two-way) from the residential area to the urban forest, and age of the visitor were selected as the independent variables in the demand model. A linear form was used to estimate the consumer surplus of the urban forest visitors. The linear regression equation gives the demand function for the visitor to the site, and the area below demand curve gives the consumer surplus. The results showed that consumer surplus per trip are RM 41.75 for the visitor of MPJBT Urban Forest and RM 30.34 for the visitor of MBJB Urban Forest. These findings would provide some useful information that might be needed for those involved in planning and management for the development of urban forest sites especially in Johor Bahru for the benefits of local communities.