BIODIVERSITAS ISSN: 1412-033X Volume 21, Number 5, May 2020 E-ISSN: 2085-4722 Pages: 2266-2274 DOI: 10.13057/biodiv/d210557 Environment carrying capacity and willingness to pay for bird- watching ecotourism in Kerandangan Natural Park, Lombok, Indonesia I WAYAN SUANA 1,♥ , HILMAN AHYADI 1 , GITO HADIPRAYITNO 2 , SALEH AMIN 3 , LALU ACHMAD TAN TILAR WANGSAJATI SUKMARING KALIH 4 , FRANCISCUS XAVERIUS SUDARYANTO 5 1 Department of Biology, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Universitas Mataram. Jl. Majapahit No. 62, Mataram 83126, Nusa Tenggara Barat, Indonesia. Tel./fax.: +62-370-646506, ♥ email: wynsuana@unram.ac.id 2 Department of Biology Education, Universitas Mataram. Jl. Majapahit No. 62, Mataram 83126, Nusa Tenggara Barat, Indonesia 3 Ecotraveland. Jl. Prasarana Terusan 11, Mataram 83121, Nusa Tenggara Barat, Indonesia 4 Universitas 45 Mataram. Jl. Imam Bonjol 45, Mataram 83239, Nusa Tenggara Barat, Indonesia 5 Department of Biology, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Universitas Udayana. Jl. Raya Kampus Unud No. 9, Jimbaran, Badung 80361, Bali, Indonesia Manuscript received: 3 April 2020. Revision accepted: 28 April 2020. Abstract. Suana IW, Ahyadi H, Hadiprayitno G, Amin S, Kalih LATTWS, Sudaryanto FX. 2020. Environment carrying capacity and willingness to pay for bird-watching ecotourism in Kerandangan Natural Park, Lombok, Indonesia. Biodiversitas 21: 2266-2274. Five trails of interest to bird-watchers and an observation point by the guest house of Kerandangan Natural Park (KNP) have potential to be developed as bird-watching ecotourism packages. In order to develop sustainable bird-watching ecotourism in KNP, we analyzed the environment carrying capacity and willingness to pay (WTP) for bird-watching ecotourism packages. All of the trails and an observation point in KNP were explored to determine the width and length of the trails, the visit time, as well as the soil texture and slope along the trails. Interviews with KNP managers and secondary data from Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Council (BMKG)- Climatology Station Class I-West Lombok were also used to determine the status of biophysical habitats. The environment carrying capacity was calculated by combining the physical carrying capacity, real carrying capacity, and effective carrying capacity. The results show that environment carrying capacity of bird-watching ecotourism packages in KNP was higher than the actual visitation levels. It indicates that opportunity to develop and increase the number of visitors is considerable. WTP was determined by Contingent Valuation Method (CVM) with payment card approach. Through the brochure, 150 respondents were given information on bird-watching ecotourism packages, then are offered three options, and only allowed to choose one that can be paid. Data were collected by the incidental sampling method. The results show that the visitors are willing to pay for bird-watching ecotourism packages, with mean WTP of US$ 20.7 per visitor. It implies that they are willing to shoulder the financial support for management and conservation of birds and their habitat in KNP. The findings provide important information for KNP managers for planning and marketing bird-watching ecotourism in KNP. Keywords: Bird-watching ecotourism, physical carrying capacity, real carrying capacity, effective carrying capacity, willingness to pay INTRODUCTION Fifty species of birds have been recorded at Kerandangan Natural Park (KNP), Lombok, Indonesia (Suana et al. 2016). Particular attractions in KNP include Elegant Pitta (Pitta elegans), an endemic Wallacean species, which is a world favorite for bird-watchers. Since 2012, based on the guest book at KNP guest house, many international visitors from Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Netherlands, Switzerland, and United Kingdom had come just to find this bird. Clearly, the presence of Elegant Pitta has a tremendous appeal. The Rinjani Scops Owl (Otus jolandae), known as Lombok’s endemic bird described by Sangster et al. (2013), Flores Hawk-Eagle (Nisaetus floris) are classified as Critically Endangered by BirdLife International (www.birdlife.org), Cinnamon-banded Kingfisher (Todiramphus australasia) and Rufous-chested Flycatcher (Ficedula dumetoria) are also found in KNP (Suana et al. 2016). This combination of birds can be considered the iconic species of KNP to attract bird- watchers from all over the world. At KNP there are trails and observation points for bird- watching. Identification of the trails and observation points based on the following indicators: (i) bird diversity and endemicity; (ii) distribution and variation of bird habitat; and (iii) zonation of conservation areas, yielded five bird- watching trails and an observation point by the guesthouse (Suana et al. 2016). All of these trails have potential to be developed as bird-watching ecotourism packages. However, tourism activities can cause various negative impacts on the environment. The high number of visitors could result in environmental disturbance in the ecotourism area. This leads to deterioration in the quality of the environment, and the environmental aesthetic value will decrease (Bunruamkaew and Muruyama 2012; Enseñat- Soberanis et al. 2020; Ferreira and Harmse 2014; Marsiglio 2015; Sabokkhiz et al. 2016; Salemi et al. 2019; Sutanhaji et al. 2019). Thus, environment carrying capacity of bird- watching ecotourism packages in KNP should be analyzed to ensure its sustainability. Sustainable tourist development meets the needs of present tourists and host regions while