ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Environ. Sci.
Sec. Environmental Policy and Governance
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fenvs.2025.1573850
Multiple stakeholders' willingness to pay for diffused pollution control measures in the water conservation zone
Provisionally accepted
- 1Institute of Disaster Prevention, Sanhe, China
- 2Capital Normal University, Beijing, Beijing Municipality, China
- 3Xichang College, Xichang, Sichuan, China
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Stakeholder engagement is crucial for the effective implementation of Diffused Pollution Control Measures (DPCMs), as it fosters local ownership, improves compliance, and enhances the long-term sustainability of environmental initiatives. However, such engagement remains significantly understudied, particularly in developing regions where institutional and resource constraints are prominent. Addressing this gap, this study analyzes the Willingness-To-Pay (WTP) of 221 diverse stakeholders — including volunteers, villagers, and migrants — in rural North China, by examining the interplay of their environmental concern, policy attitudes, and payment intentions to elucidate their motivations and capacity for participation. Results showed that: (1) Stakeholders exhibited four payment archetypes — Institution-Dependent Group, Ambivalent-Concern Group, Responsibility-Cautious Group, Autonomous-Action Group—reflecting motivational disparities in environmental stewardship. (2) Inverse socioeconomic gradients emerged: less-developed Luanping contributed the highest income proportion (0.85%) despite lower absolute payments (68.3 CNY/year), while wealthier Miyun showed higher absolute (69.1 CNY/year) but lower relative contributions (0.36%). Volunteers demonstrated peak absolute WTP (99 CNY/year), surpassing villagers (67.5) and migrants (59.5). (3) Random forest analysis identified WTP (0.318) and income (0.195) as primary determinants (51.3% variance explained), with education, age, and evaluation of government policies as secondary factors. Gender and tendency to seek help showed negligible impacts. These findings underscore that effective payment for DPCMs must integrate economic capacity with trust in policy, while accounting for nuanced stakeholder motivations. The study provides a actionable framework for designing differentiated and socially equitable payment strategies that enhance stakeholder participation and environmental sustainability across diverse socio-economic contexts.
Keywords: Stakeholder, environmental concern, Willingness to pay, attitude to pay, diffused pollution control measures
Received: 10 Feb 2025; Accepted: 23 Sep 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Du, Wang, Li, Li and Nan. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Yi Du, duyi@cidp.edu.cn
Xiaoyan Wang, wangxy@cnu.edu.cn
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