Public awareness and willingness to pay for eliminating atmosphere pollution in Pakistan: A case study

Atmosphere pollution is a burning issue in Pakistan and therefore getting substantial attention at both the national and international levels. It is not only confined to the cities, but the small towns in Pakistan also suffer from this problem. However, very little information exists regarding public awareness and willingness to pay (WTP) for atmosphere pollution, particularly among the inhabitants of towns. This study aims to investigate the role of public awareness and WTP in the elimination of atmosphere pollution via a well-structured interview schedule. The interval regression model is used to analyze the data. The analysis shows that radio, television, and newspapers are the prime sources of information regarding atmosphere pollution in the study area. The attitude of the respondents concerning the severity of atmosphere pollution, only 46.0 percent declares pollution in towns as ‘moderately severe.’ Regarding the sources of pollution, 48 percent of the respondents attribute vehicular emissions besides industrial emissions to atmosphere pollution. The environment-friendly measures that respondents favored include the use of public transportation (37.7%) and solar equipment (27.7%) followed by the carbon tax and personal car sharing. There exists a significant difference between the WTP for self-protective measures before and after the dissemination of information. The analysis further demonstrates that the WTP to support the control and prevention of air pollution after the dissemination of information is significantly higher than before the dissemination of such information. However, respondents tend to pay more for self-protective measures than to support the control and prevention measures. Alternatively, this may indicate that inhabitants of the study area want the government to play a dominant role in controlling atmosphere pollution and preventive actions. Among the various socio-economic factors, the level of education and income significantly increase the WTP to eliminate atmosphere pollution. This study is important to better understand public awareness and WTP to prevent atmosphere pollution in Pakistan. It could also contribute to activating positive public participation to control atmosphere pollution and its management to move toward sustainable development.