Indirect Economic Value of Mangrove Ecosystem in the North Coastal of Sikka Regency in Disaster Mitigation

Abstract

The earthquake disaster history in the Nusa Tenggara region recorded above 7 SR followed by tsunami happens in several locations such as Maumere, Alor, and most recently in Larantuka. Due to this history, community understanding is needed in the mitigation of disasters’ impact. Therefore, this research aims to identify the economic value of the mangrove ecosystem as an area that protects coastal communities from tsunami disasters. The analysis used was willingness to pay (WTP) and willingness to accept (WTA). The WTP value was analyzed from 3 different perspectives such as the perspective of the people who experienced the tsunami disaster in 1992, the perspective of the local government and other institutions responsible for the disaster, and the perspective of people who did not have experience with tsunami disasters. Meanwhile, the WTA assessment was conducted on the manager of Magepanda Mangrove Area. Respondents consisted of 35 residents who experienced the tsunami disaster, 35 residents who never experienced the disaster, 20 respondents from Regional Apparatus Organizations and other stakeholders, and 5 mangrove managers in Reroroja Village, Magepanda sub-district. The WTA calculation indicated that the three stakeholder institutions experienced significant changes in positive externalities, and 60% of respondents chose to receive compensation funds for these positive externalities. Meanwhile, the 40% was in the form of infrastructure development/repairment. Interestingly, the WTP average of respondents who experienced a disaster and respondents who did not experience disaster was not very significant, namely $ 0.81 and $ 0.57. This was caused by 48% of respondents who never experienced a tsunami disaster, who had already known the impact caused by the tsunami, and 86% already known the ecological function of mangrove forests. Thus, these two things encouraged them to provide high value for the mangrove ecosystem. WTP given by policymakers had an average value of $1.86. The perspective of respondents in providing the value was very realistic because 95% of respondents had ever seen the mangrove ecosystem condition in Magepanda.