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The recreational value of coral reefs: A meta-analysis
Abstract
Coral reefs are highly productive ecosystems that provide a variety of valuable goods and services, including recreational opportunities. The open-access nature and public good characteristics of coral reefs often result in them being undervalued in decision making related to their use and conservation. In response to this, there now exists a substantial economic valuation literature on coral reefs. For the purposes of conducting a meta-analysis of this literature, we collected 166 coral reef valuation studies, 52 of which provided sufficient information for a statistical meta-analysis, yielding 100 separate value observations in total. Focusing on recreational values, we use US$ per visit as the dependent variable in our meta-analysis. The meta-regression results reveal a number of important factors in explaining variation in coral reef recreational values, notably the area of dive sites and the number of visitors. Different valuation methods are shown to produce widely different values, with the contingent valuation method producing significantly lower value estimates. Using a multi-level modelling approach we also control for authorship effects, which proves to be highly significant in explaining variation in value estimates. We assess the prospects for using this analysis for out-of-sample value transfer, and find average transfer errors of 186%. We conclude that there is a need for further high-quality valuation research on coral reefs.
... Commercial oyster harvest value has an estimated value of $13,615 (2023 USD) acre − 1 year − 1 (Grabowski et al., 2012). Published values, such as these, have been used to estimate ecosystem services for a variety of aquatic organisms and ecosystems, including oyster restoration efforts (Brander et al., 2007;Camacho-Valdez et al., 2013;Callihan et al., 2016;Bersoza Hernández et al., 2018;van der Schatte Olivier et al., 2018;Wang et al., 2021). The process of applying existing estimates from one context (e.g. ...
... new location) is a benefit transfer approach (Spash and Vatn, 2006;Richardson et al., 2015). While these methods have the advantage of being low cost, they do not provide customized estimates for benefits in novel scenarios and are often unreliable (Spash and Vatn, 2006;Brander et al., 2007;Richardson et al., 2015). ...
... Resorts sell the aesthetically turquoise lagoons, white sandy beaches, and underwater opportunities on the reef to tourists. The high biological diversity and clear waters of tropical reefs also support an abundance of recreational activities such as SCUBA diving, snorkeling, island tours, and sport fishing (Brander et al., 2007;Spalding et al., 1997). The total value of tourism attributed globally to coral reefs is estimated to be $36 billion year À1 , or over 9% of all coastal tourism value in the world's coral reef countries (Spalding et al., 2017). ...
... Coral reef tourism can be highly lucrative for individual economies; for example, in 2002 the earnings of B100 diver operators in Hawaii were estimated at $50-60 million year À1 (van Beukering and Cesar, 2004). However, estimates of the recreational value of individual reefs should be interpreted with caution as a recent meta-analysis suggests substantial bias in author's estimates of individual recreation values (Brander et al., 2007). In addition to tourism and recreation, reefs also provide substantial services through research opportunities for scientists, providing rich geologic climate history in treelike bands embedded in coral skeletons (Greenstein and Pandolfi, 2008). ...
... Other benefits (provisioning services) include raw materials, filtered water, etc. Regulating services from coastal ecosystems also play essential roles in maintaining human well-being at the local level (e.g. with reefs and coastal wetlands protecting shorelines: [35] as well as at the global level (e.g. through carbon sequestration). Finally, coastal ecosystems also provide many cultural services, including recreation and tourism [9,43], aesthetic and spiritual values, and cultural significance to coastal communities [38,73]. People have been enjoying and caring for coastal resources for thousands of years, with records showing relationships between Australian First Nations Peoples (FNPs) and their traditional lands continuing for more than 60,000 years [14]. ...
... The IDEEA Group [51] suggest this approach as it relates to ecosystem function and integrity, independent of what the ecosystem can provide to humanity. In the GBR Marine Park, there are many (but not centralised) sources of information to assist in answering the question of extent and condition 9 . A proper application of the SEEA-EA framework would also require the measuring and reporting of extent and condition of ecosystems on a semi-regular (say, annual) basis to monitor change over time. ...
What gets measured gets managed is an axiom common to the business world that also applies to the management of environmental assets and processes. But what is the most adequate way to measure ecosystem value to optimise ecosystem management? In this paper, we unpack three valuation frameworks often applied in understanding ecosystem services and their benefits: 1) the Ecosystem Services framework, operationalised by the United Nations System of Environmental Economic Accounting - Ecosystem Accounting (SEEA-EA) framework; 2) value-centric approaches operationalised by the Total Economic Value framework; and 3) First Nations Peoples (FNP) frameworks, which seek to capture values from FNPs’ perspective. By assessing the strengths and weaknesses of these value frameworks for managing the World’s largest reef ecosystem—the Australian Great Barrier Reef—we construct an extended SEEA-EA valuation framework tailored to complex coastal settings. The significance of our approach is the inclusion of the whole range of benefits from all coastal and marine uses and users and therefore the integration of non-market and FNP values into the more traditional market-based valuation approach. Assessments that jointly consider multiple values originating from these three different frameworks are more likely to produce sustainable management outcomes than more restrictive approaches.
... The relatively high values for hunting large animals were consistent with their higher volume of meat and the absence of trophy value for the other game animals. This finding supported the results of other valuation studies that estimated hunters' valuation of different game animals [59]. ...
... The results showed that the valuation method had significant effects-the values estimated by the CVM method were lower than those of other methods. This supported the results obtained in several MRA studies on recreational ecosystem values [17,59,60]. Contrary to the expectations expressed in other studies (e.g., [61]), the CVM may not provide higher values than methods based on revealed preferences. ...
Hunters’ valuations of recreational hunting have been estimated by a large number of location-specific studies since the early 1970s, but to date there has been no systematic assessment of this research at the global scale. The present study performed a meta-analysis of 80 studies with 588 value-per-day estimates. The assessment showed a high concentration of studies pertaining to the valuation of deer and the valuation of hunting in the USA. The average value was USD 69 /hunting day in 2020 prices, but the variation was large, ranging from USD 4 to 325 /hunting day. The statistical performance of alternative mixed-effect models explaining the estimated value differences was tested with different hunting attributes (targeted game animal); context variables (income/capita, population density, year of study, region of application); and study characteristics (valuation method, publication outlet). The results showed that the type of game animal, income per capita, and valuation method had significant effects on estimated values. The predictive power was high for all models, supporting the application of the meta-analysis results to guide the management of hunting where primary valuation studies have not been undertaken, in particular outside the USA.
... Tropical coral reefs provide a wide range of ecosystem services that benefit millions of people worldwide [1]. Some of the most well-studied provisioning services include fisheries [2], cultural services include recreation and tourism [3], and regulating services include coastal protection [4] and nutrient processing [5]. Yet, few reefs have escaped exposure from local threats in the form of overfishing, catchment runoff and direct habitat destruction, and global threats in the form of increasing regional ocean temperatures and changes to the acidity of ocean waters [6][7][8][9]. ...
Tropical coral reefs provide a wide range of ecosystem services that benefit millions worldwide. However, the current scale of coral reef restoration is a long way from matching the extent needed to protect coral reefs globally, and this implementation gap presents a complex challenge to overcome. Cross-sectoral collaborative sustainable business models (CSBMs) present an interesting opportunity to scale up coral restoration, though this area is yet to be explored in the literature. In this paper, we use the Reef Restoration and Adaptation Program in the Great Barrier Reef as a case study to examine potential collaborators, their roles, and what benefits motivate them to partner for scaling coral restoration. We identified a diverse range of potential collaborators from 10 sectors offering different combinations of physical, human and organisational capitals. Participants described nine roles they could play in such a partnership, and many of these roles relate to ecosystem growth scaling strategies. Benefits that motivate collaboration fall into seven categories: environmental benefit, business opportunity and value, employment opportunity, knowledge and technology, innovation, hope, and reputation. Our findings contribute to designing CSBMs for coral restoration by enriching our understanding of collaborators, value creation and their potential roles in alternative pathways to scale up coral restoration beyond reducing unit cost and increasing funding.
... For instance, the value of a fishery is calculated by multiplying the market price by the harvested quantity (Sumaila et al., 2007). Tourism revenue from activities like coral reef snorkelling estimates economic value (Brander et al., 2007). Market pricing is effective for provisioning services but limited for non-market services like climate regulation, where surrogate prices are used, such as the cost of a water treatment facility to value a wetland's purification service (Gren et al., 1995). ...
The valuation of ecosystem services has become a pivotal topic in environmental science, yet there remains a critical need for comprehensive reviews focused on the fragile ecosystems of coastal regions. This review provides a thorough examination of the diverse ecosystem services offered by coastal environments-such as mangroves, coral reefs, salt marshes, and seagrass beds-emphasizing their essential roles in provisioning, regulating, supporting, and cultural functions. These ecosystems are vital for sustaining biodiversity, climate regulation through carbon sequestration, habitat provision, and cultural enrichment, thereby contributing significantly to global food security, climate stability, and cultural heritage. Despite their importance, coastal ecosystem services are increasingly threatened by anthropogenic pressures, including urbanization, pollution, overfishing, and climate change, which are causing significant habitat degradation and loss. This review highlights the urgent need for integrated management strategies that incorporate ecological, economic, and social dimensions to mitigate these impacts. It advocates for the application of both economic and non-economic valuation techniques to precisely quantify ecosystem services, thereby guiding effective policy-making. The review also stresses the importance of interdisciplinary research, community engagement, and the inclusion of traditional ecological knowledge in developing nature-based solutions for the conservation and restoration of these critical ecosystems. Such an approach is vital for ensuring the long-term resilience and sustainability of coastal ecosystem services in the face of escalating environmental challenges.
... Zandersen et al (2008) investigated, with the use of a meta-analysis, the drivers affecting the economic value obtained from a travel cost analysis of recreational ES at the European level. Brander et al. (Brander et al., 2007) analyzed the economic value of recreational ES at the global level provided by the coral reefs. Huber et al. (2020), again with a meta-analysis, captured the insights offered from willingness to pay studies for cultural services from grasslands in Europe (Huber et al., 2020). ...
Ecosystem services (ES) are defined as “the direct and indirect contributions of ecosystems to human wellbeing” The release of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) established the groundwork for research in this field. Subsequently, there has been a remarkable increasing in interest in ecosystem services (ES) valuation, leading to the advancement, enhancement, and dissemination of various qualitative and quantitative methodologies. The investigation of the economic value of these services/benefits and its drivers, is crucial to the scientific debate, particularly to allow an estimate of the monetary value. As a consequence, support for the decision maker is provided to improve policy to the drivers that potentially have a positive effect on these ES. Considering the significance of ecosystem services (ES) for the sustainable advancement of contemporary society, this study endeavors to explore potential factors influencing ES values related to recreational and touristic opportunities on a global scale using meta-regression analysis. The investigation spans the years 1975 to 2021. Data for this study were sourced from the Ecosystem Service Valuation Database (ESVD), renowned as one of the most extensively utilized databases for ecosystem service valuation (ESV). Main findings show the existence of a difference in the assessment of the ES value for recreational and touristic opportunities in favor of the latter. This difference is more evident in Southern American countries, in which the number of studies published in the field appears low. Furthermore, the degree of protection of the study area is another relevant factor providing a positive effect on the economic value of ES. This result could be supported by the increasing number, over time, of protected areas across the globe. The findings of the present study would help policy makers to develop ad-hoc policies (e.g. financial incentives to increase the number of protected areas) and implement appropriate spatial strategies tailored to the geographical features and territorial characteristics of the area under investigation.
... Coral reefs are among the most biodiverse (Knowlton et al. 2010;Hughes, Bellwood, and Connolly 2002;Brandl et al. 2019) and economically valuable (Spurgeon 1992;Pascal et al. 2016;Brander, Van Beukering, and Cesar 2007;Laurans et al. 2013) ecosystems, which provide vital ecological goods and services (Woodhead et al. 2019;Eddy et al. 2021;Moberg and Folke 1999). However, coral reefs are increasingly threatened by the changing climate (Knowlton 2001;Baker, Glynn, and Riegl 2008;Ove Hoegh-Guldberg et al. 2017;O. ...
Reef-building corals are increasingly threatened by the warming climate, necessitating the development of tools to monitor their responses to environmental stress. Furthermore, scalable methods of identifying resilient corals are a particular conservation priority. Techniques commonly used to quantify the severity of coral bleaching can be invasive or require specialized instruments, while more widely-accessible visual methods can be limited by subjectivity. This study evaluates a non-invasive, objective, color-based approach for evaluating the status of coral symbiosis and compares thermal tolerance results with traditional bleaching metrics. Using the staghorn coral Acropora cervicornis as a model, acute thermal tolerance was assessed across genets, sites, and seasons within an active coral restoration program in Bonaire, Caribbean Netherlands. Quantitative color scores were significantly correlated with both traditional bleaching metrics and also identified similar genetic and environmental effects on coral thermal tolerance. Most importantly, color-based metrics demonstrated a high level of agreement with both symbiont and chlorophyll retention in detecting significant pairwise differences in resistance. Variation in predictive accuracy and method agreement across seasons suggest that color-based assessments of thermal tolerance may be more effective in summer compared to winter. Overall the findings of this study provide support for color analysis as a reliable and cost-effective method for assessing coral resilience which can be readily incorporated into censuses of coral populations, especially for conservation and restoration efforts.
... Los arrecifes de coral son los ecosistemas que albergan un mayor número de especies por unidad de área en el planeta (Fisher et al., 2015;Knowlton et al., 2010). A pesar de distribuirse en mares tropicales oligotróficos, se encuentran entre los ecosistemas más productivos, lo que les permite albergar entre 25-30 % de todas las especies marinas (Reaka-Kudla, 2005;Reaka & Lombardi, 2011), además de proveer un sin número de bienes y servicios ecosistémicos a comunidades que viven en áreas costeras en condición de alta vulnerabilidad al cambio climático (Brander et al., 2007;Moberg & Folke, 1999;Woodhead et al., 2019). ...
This paper explores spatial and temporal patterns in the abundance of parrotfish assemblages along trhe northern coastof the Dominican Republic. We show high spatial and temporal variability for these assemblages at dofferent spatial scales. Parrotfish along localities and sites are dominated by small-size species and small-size individuals. These patterns might be explained by overfishing, which is a problem in the DR.
... Millions of people rely on this complex ecosystem for their livelihoods, cultures, and food production (Eddy et al 2018). The benefits provided by coral reefs can be categorized into two types: provisioning services, which include fisheries, cultural recreation, and tourism (Brander et al 2007), and regulating services, such as coastal protection, which have been extensively researched by scientists (Ferrario et al 2014). Coral reefs are not only beautiful ecosystems, but they also play a crucial role as biological engineers and keystone species. ...
The global deterioration of coral reefs has prompted research to comprehend the various impacts on coral's organisms as well as the interactions between reefs and their natural predators, coral grazing marine gastropods. However, the status of marine gastropods on Pulau Redang Marine Park is lacking. The study assessed marine gastropod diversity and shell morphometrics as indicators of the coral reef health ecosystem. SCUBA divers laid out a coral belt transect line of 50 m x 10 m at five sites. 177 individuals from four species of two families (Turbinidae and Muricidae; subclasses Vetigastropoda and Caenogastropoda) were collected at other locations. The highest number of individuals belonged to Drupella rugosa with 112 individuals, and the lowest number was Astralium rhodostomum. For the studied of marine snails, the Shannon index of diversity was H'=0.9 (<2) and the Simpson index of dominance was D=0.5 (<1). In addition, a high evenness, J', and equitability Ep were recorded at the sites of Pulau Redang. In terms of morphometrics, A. rhodostomum had the highest value of shell length (28.49±7.06 mm) and shell width (26.63±5.21 mm). No gastropods were found in Chagar Hutang and Mak Simpan due to coral destruction caused by the cyclonic Pabuk storm in early January 2019. Although it is a baseline, future research should also focus on parameters such as seawater temperature and coral bleaching towards effects on corallivorous gastropods and interaction between gastropods species.
... For illustration purposes, we built four co-production isoquant maps from selected empirical data ( Figure 5), with two examples of CPE in agriculture (Oldfield et al. 2019) and two of CPF in recreation (Brander et al. 2007;Schägner et al. 2018) (details in Table 3). Selection of examples was constrained by the scarcity of studies that quantified variables for natural inputs, anthropogenic inputs, and NCP levels. ...
The co-production of Nature’s Contributions to People (NCP) is a set of processes in which anthropogenic inputs (i.e. material or non-material actions and the assets supporting these actions) and natural inputs (i.e. ecological structures and processes) interact to produce NCP. An interdisciplinary understanding of NCP co-production can support decision-making on ecosystem management or NCP use, given natural constraints, limited human inputs, possible adverse effects and trade-offs arising from co-production. In this paper, we show that mechanisms of co-production at the ecosystem level and the NCP flow level are fundamentally different. At the level of ecosystems, people manage natural structures and processes to influence the production of potential NCP (e.g. via planting, restoring, fertilizing). At this level, anthropogenic inputs can partially substitute for natural inputs, but natural inputs are necessary whereas anthropogenic inputs are not. At the level of flows, co-production actions convert potential NCP into realized NCP and quality of life (e.g. via harvesting, transporting, transforming, consuming, and appreciating NCP). At this level, anthropogenic inputs are complementary to natural inputs, although some substitutability can occur at the margin. Analysing the substitutability and complementarity between natural and anthropogenic capitals, as well as the adverse effects or mutual enhancement between them, is crucial for informed decision-making on landscape and NCP management. This understanding enables the identification of strategies that can ensure NCP supply and increase human well-being in a sustainable manner.
... To examine the extent of the degradation of corals and their impacts, various methods have been used by economists (Spurgeon 1992;Dixon, 1998). Cesar (2000), Ahmed et al. (2004), and Brander et al. (2007) have provided with meta-analysis of coral-associated ecosystems. Costanza et al. (1997) have estimated a global value for coral ecosystems. ...
Bar Reef is a complex marine ecosystem with over 120 coral species living in the reef and over 300 fish species reported from the surrounding sea. It was declared a marine sanctuary in 1992. Despite efforts for conservation, the Bar Reef ecosystem is at risk of degradation due to overexploitation of extractive uses, namely, edible fish, other seafood species, and aquarium fish. In addition, destructive fishing practices are also responsible for damaging the reef ecosystem. The designation of Kalpitiya as a significant tourism promotion area has created additional pressure on the system. Further, the worldwide incidence of coral bleaching in 1998 has severely affected a major part of the Bar Reef. However, the amount of degradation persistent in the bar reef has not been valued so far. This research has attempted to value the extent of degradation prevailing in the Bar Reef from the perception of the visitors. It has used Choice Experiment Method to assess the visitors’ perception of the degradation. Randomly selected 250 visitors were interviewed and the conditional logit model has been used to investigate the visitor preferences towards the habitat quality and analyze the significance of their preferences. According to the results obtained reduction of plastic and polythene by 50%, reducing the crowding in the beach area by 15%, and paying Rs. 1000 has become significant. Hence it is expected by this research to provide a signal to the relevant stakeholders on the extent of degradation prevailing and the importance of protecting this habitat.
... Mangroves of West and Central Africa extend over 20,144 km 2 , representing 59% of the African mangroves and 11% of the total mangroves area in the World (UNEP-WCMC, 2007) and provide a broad array of ecosystem services (Barbier et al., 2011), valued at an average of 4200tones US/ ha/yr in Southeast Asia (Brander et al., 2007). Amongst these values are those of carbon stock and sequestration potentials where mangroves are amongst the most carbon (C) rich forests on Earth Jones et al., 2014) and have highest value per hectare of any blue carbon ecosystem (Nellemann et al., 2009). ...
Aim: Nypa fruticans Wurmb is a palm species found in mangrove ecosystems with moderate salt load which circumscribes well to the actual areas of its occurrence in the gradient from seawater habitats to inland sites. This study aimed at carrying out a baseline assessment of above ground carbon stock in stands of Nypa fruticans wurmb. Methods: Representative samples of seedlings, juveniles, adults and mature stands were harvested through a destructive sampling technique. These samples were air dried and further oven dried in the laboratory at 105°C until a constant mass was attained. The biomass was then converted to per carbon stock using the published carbon concentration of 0.5 for above-ground biomass. Results: Nypa fruticans wurmb has an average estimated carbon per mature frond of 0.77 kg, followed by the adult fronts with average estimated carbon per frond of 0.24 kg, the juvenile records an average carbon per juvenile frond of 0.11 kg and the seedlings with average estimated carbon per seedling frond of 0.02 kg. Conclusion: Nypa fruticans wurmb have a relatively small amount of biomass and carbon stock as compared to other woody mangrove species. Recommendations: It is recommended that, carbon in the roots of this palm should be evaluated to complete the required information on this subject. The spread of this palm should be checked due to its negative impact on native mangroves and the indirect adverse effects it poses to climate change mitigation.
... Tourism in marine environments is very popular around the world, particularly on coral reef and connected ecosystems, such as sea grass and mangroves. SCUBA diving, snorkeling and salt water recreational fishing are fast-growing tourism activities, generating jobs and income in hundreds of places worldwide and often providing much-needed foreign earnings (Brander et al. 2007; Cisneros-Montemayor and Sumaila 2010; Spalding et al. 2017). Spalding et al. (2017) found that "Global coral reef related tourism is one of the most significant examples of nature-based tourism from a single ecosystem," estimating US$ 35.8 billion per year with a highly variable spatial distribution, from nonvalue in 70% of the world's coral reefs, to US$ 48,000 km -2 year -1 to US$ 482,428 km -2 year -1 for the remaining 30%. ...
Iconic species related to coral reefs like sharks, large fishes and marine turtles are increasingly valuable for dive-based tourism. This also applies to recreational fisheries of tarpon, bonefish and permit. Jardines de la Reina National Park (JRNP) in South Central Cuba is well known worldwide because of its high-quality diving and fly fishing experiences. Studies conducted within JRNP show that the main attractions for divers were sharks and rays (78%), large fishes (15%) and marine turtles (7%). Anglers preferred species were tarpon (47%), bonefish (31%) and permit (22%). Although visitation is very limited (average 1250 divers and 600 anglers per year), tourism activities provide important revenues. The gross revenues generated by these activities and the percentage from the attractions were used to estimate that annual revenues from sharks and rays diving were up to US 417,328, from marine turtles up to US 1,225,903, from bonefish up to US 573,827. These figures are among the highest worldwide. Total gross benefits from tourism almost double those from commercial fisheries in an area eight times smaller, suggesting the need for more comprehensive and diverse economic use of biological diversity to maximize the services that nature provides.
... Despite their global importance, coral reefs are threatened by a combination of anthropogenic factors such as overfishing, habitat degradation, contamination and environmental factors such as increase of sea temperature and wave impact (Jackson et al. 2014). In the Caribbean, nearly 70% of the coral reefs are affected by human activities including coastal development and nonsustainable tourism practices (Burke and Maidens 2004;Brander et al. 2007). Degradation of Caribbean reefs brings as a result the loss of biodiversity and consequently of revenues from declining tourism and fisheries, increasing poverty and coastal erosion. ...
Coral reefs are extremely important for nature and humans. However, public and decision makers are often unaware of their importance, in part because their true value is hard to assess and seldom presented in an easily understood way. Jardines de la Reina and Punta Francés are among the most iconic coral reefs and national parks in Cuba. Their coral reefs provide many environmental goods and services, but they remain poorly understood. The objectives of this paper are to assess the updated value of two iconic Cuban coral reefs in the worldwide context, revisiting previous studies conducted in each area; and to provide a reference values and benefits for Cuban coral reefs to promote their conservation and sustainable management. Coral reef value expressed in monetary accounting units reaches up to US 312,000 km−2 year−1), this figure matches the order of magnitude of global assessments. These are relevant findings for decision making in Cuba in an economic setting that urgently demand holistic approaches to adopt actions that contribute to sustainable development and increase Cubans well-being.
... Even within highly populated and visited coral reef locations in Australia and Indonesia, tourism activity is highly clustered among only a small fraction of the total coral reef area. Results from a meta-analysis have indicated that value transfer might not even be appropriate between coral reef locations where reef recreation is taking place because of deviations in economic productivity between different reef destinations [4]. Power laws are ubiquitous in economics [23,42] and this applies to coral reef tourism as well. ...
Global estimates of the economic value of coral reefs have been made using benefit transfer and other valuation methods, but it is unclear whether these estimates match actualized values (e.g. market values of reef fish and reef tourism) or how they scale to specific regions. Here we empirically estimated the (actualized) direct economic contribution of fishing and tourism on coral reefs (i.e., direct use values) in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region, which includes a majority (~80%) of the global reef area. We found that coral reefs in the APAC region directly contributed $25 billion annually on average over the years 2008-2012 to the region's economy from fishing and tourism alone.,000 per square kilometer of coral reef, although there were large deviations between countries in terms of economic utilization of their reefs. Our findings suggest that a highly-cited prior estimate of the global potential value of coral reefs (Cesar et al., 2003) is likely a significant underestimation of actual economic contributions. We discuss some of the implications for reef management. Most notably, our results indicate that the non-consumptive direct use of reef resources provide substantially more economic benefits than consumptive uses.
... TCM and HPM provide a straightforward technical approach to the monetary valuation of natural or environmental characteristics based on people's actual behaviour, avoiding many of the biases found in expressed or stated preference approaches. However, these models rely on assumptions the validity of which can be questioned (Brander et al., 2007). Although both methods are considered reasonably robust (Turner et al., 2003). ...
The concept of natural capital has evolved greatly since the days of
pre-classical economics; these developments reveal a pivotal role for
natural capital in economic development and justify its incorporation as a key management tool. While economic approaches and methodologies have provided advances in this area, integrated coastal zone management (ICZM) managers now need to fully integrate assessments of ecological and social features responsible for the generation of natural capital in order to better assess tradeoffs in management choices.
... Barrio and Loureiro, 2010;Brander, Van Beukering, and Cesar, 2007;Lindhjem, 2007;and Loomis and White, 1996, to name some key studies in the field.3 Samples from countries with large populations naturally require larger samples, which would not necessarily mean that these are more accurate than a sample from small populations. ...
This meta-analysis provides a consensus on the willingness to pay (WTP) for organic food, and the factors influencing its premium. It includes 56 studies which satisfy the criteria established by its protocol, contributing to 108 observations. Results show that, on average, consumers worldwide are willing to pay a 60\% premium for the organic attribute. Premiums have increased over the years and are larger for relatively cheaper products in Asia and Africa. Education level has an inverse relationship with the extra amount consumers would pay for organic and is a pivotal variable in WTP estimates. However, premia are also highly influenced by the methodology applied in the study, indicating that stated preference approaches on average increase estimates by 55\%, though the treatment of hypothetical bias mitigates most of this, with an effect of -43\%. Face-to-face surveys and information given during the survey also positively affect premiums. Thus, these should be considered when eliciting WTP estimates.
... Coral reefs are one of the most productive ecosystems on the planet. They are estimated to provide $375 billion worth of services per year and support almost half a billion people worldwide (Costanza et al. 1997, Brander et al. 2007). They foster a multitude of organisms and protect coastlines from erosion and flooding by reducing the impact of wave action (Hoegh-Guldberg 1999). ...
... The BTM has been used to estimate the value of wetlands [Woodward, Wui, 2001], water quality and supply [Barton, 2002;Piper, Martin, 2001] and coral reefs [Brander et al., 2007]. Other non-market goods valued by the transfer method include cultural heritage sites. ...
Public spaces bring a variety of social and economic benefits to cities and their residents
and guests. This article presents an overview of non-market valuation methods
used to estimate the economic value of public spaces, distinguishing between
direct (stated preference) methods and indirect (revealed preference) methods.
Several important applications of these methods are also reviewed. In addition,
the article highlights the usefulness of individual non-market valuation methods
for estimating the market value of a broader set of non-market goods.
... Coral ecosystems are subjected to extensive valuation studies globally from the ecosystem service perspective and most of them are reported from the United States, Southeast Asia Caribbean and a few from the South Pacific region (Laurans et al., 2013;Pascal et al., 2016;Elliff & Kikuchi, 2017). In this context, benefits obtained from flood protection in a global context are studied by Beck et al. (2018), Beck et al. (2016) and Storlazzi et al. (2017), and the recreational value of coral reefs are studied by Brander et al. (2007) by using a meta-analysis. Further, Seenprachawong (2016) assesses the economic value of the coral reefs in Thailand while Spalding et al. (2017) assess ecosystem services provided by Mesophotic coral ecosystems, Putri et al. (2020) assess coral reef health in the nature recreation park based in Indonesia. ...
Eco-tourism all over the world is threatened by the fact that the coral reefs and associated ecosystems are in a process of disappearing at an accelerated rate due to several natural and anthropogenic causes. In this context, the Marine National Park Hikkaduwa (MNPH), one of the four marine national parks in Sri Lanka, that features a fringing coral reef with a high degree of biodiversity, reports a decreasing trend in visitation mainly due to a condition of coral bleaching caused by an El Nino effect. Unfortunately, the regeneration of the corals is found to be slowed by continuous anthropogenic activities. Against this background, the research focuses on investigating how visitor behaviour changes with the degraded situation and what avenues are available to attract more visitors to ensure benefit flows. In this concern, visitor preferences regarding the quality of the habitats and other facilities and their significance were analysed under a conditional logistic regression model. Further, a choice experiment was carried out with a randomly selected group of 200 visitors to diagnose their response to the present condition of the coral reef, the beach, and the facilities provided. Under a conditional logistic model, it was discovered that the condition of the coral reef is an important attribute that answers the question of why visitors are not willing to pay if the corals are bleached and broken. It was also discovered that the visitors are willing to pay LKR 322.52 if they are provided with new boats and new safety jackets. The results indicate that benefit flows could be enhanced with the restoration of coral ecosystems and the improvement of the physical infrastructure. Overall, the research attempts to establish that the standard maintenance of the coral reef along with high-quality visitor welfare facilities to match visitor preferences will positively impact all types of payment compliance issues with regard to the visitors.
... The value of flood control has been studied in the context of wetlands [59], generally by assessing differences in property damage along a spectrum of wetland area (e.g., reduction in damages as proxied by replacement cost). Brander et al. (2006) conducted a meta-analysis to estimate the value of flood control by wetlands that resulted in a median of 20-30 USD (1995) per hectare annually [60]. Watson et al. (2016) estimated a net present value of less than 100 USD per hectare of wetland annually, which may be lower than comparable studies due to the small beneficiary population [61]. ...
Natural stormwater treatment systems (NTS) are built ecosystems designed to capture and treat stormwater runoff via natural processes. Although NTS design typically targets water services, the biological communities associated with NTS (i.e., plants, animals, and microbes) can provide non-targeted functions that can result in ecosystem services, such as biodiversity, pollination, and climate regulation, or in some cases disservices. Additional co-benefits of NTS include recreation, education and outreach opportunities, and aesthetic value. A review of NTS ecosystem services and co-benefits is provided with specific examples from Los Angeles County, highlighting the need for ecosystem services indicators, standard measurements, and monitoring. As NTS become globally widespread, best practices must include the ability to holistically assess NTS performance in ways that extend beyond water treatment services. Three models are presented that can be used to evaluate NTS performance. Such information can be important in advancing NTS design, choosing spatial placement, and making choices between NTS and more traditional stormwater treatment options.
... Coral reefs are highly productive, biologically rich, and structurally complex ecosystems supporting 25% of marine life in the world's oceans [1]. They also support a broad range of ecosystem services [2][3][4] with recreational and cultural benefits [5][6][7], as well as resources that support the economically important pharmaceutical, fisheries, aquarium trade, and construction industries [8][9][10]. Coral reefs are also increasingly threatened by a broad array of chronic and acute stressors. ...
With the unprecedented degradation and loss of coral reefs at multiple scales, the underlying changes in abiotic and biotic features relevant to the three-dimensional architecture of coral reefs are critical to conservation and restoration. This study characterized the spatiotemporal variation of habitat metrics at eight fore-reef sites representing three management zones in the Florida Keys, USA using visual habitat surveys (2017–2018) acquired before and after Hurricane Irma. Post-hurricane, five of those sites were surveyed using structure-from-motion photogrammetry to further investigate coral morphology on structural complexity. Multivariate results for visual surveys identified moderate separation among sites, with fished sites characterized by complex physical features such as depth and vertical hard relief while protected sites generally harbored high abundances of live coral cover. Three-dimensional models of mapped sites showed within site variation as another driver in site separation. Additionally, fine-scale orthoimage analyses identified significant differences in dominant coral morphologies at each mapped site. This study suggests protected reef sites generally harbor higher live coral cover despite some fished sites being structurally similar in seabed topography. Our work provides fine-scale spatial data on several managed sites within a marine sanctuary and highlights the contribution of diverse coral assemblages to the coral reef framework.
... Generally speaking, the smaller the transfer error is, the higher the effectiveness of value transfer model will be [12,28]. The paper adopts the leave-one-out cross validation [63,68,73], i.e., successively select every observation as test set, take other observations as training set, and calculate the transfer error of corresponding observation in the test set respectively. Compared to the ordinary K-fold cross validation(k > 1), though the calculation of leave-one-out cross validation is more tedious, its sample use ratio is the highest. ...
An analytic database was built based on meta-regression analysis (MRA) method, mainly including ecosystem service type, farmland division, cultivated land type, value assessment method, and farmland characteristics. The feasible weighted least square (FWLS) method was adopted to comprehensively investigate the seventy observations from empirical studies. The results indicate that: (1) except the negative impact of farmland area on farmland value, such factors as paddy field, good soil conservation function, mainly providing agricultural products, and using market value method for assessment all produce positive effect on the promotion of farmland value. (2) In meta-regression analysis, the average transfer error is 36.74%, and the median transfer error is 14.59%. (3) Under the A1B, A2, B1, and B2 scenarios of IPCC SRES, it is discovered from calculation that the value changes under different scenarios have some differences, in which, the total value rises significantly under A2 scenario and will reach to 15,220 billion yuan until the year of 2100; while the total value loss is the greatest under B1 scenario and will fall to 6320 billion yuan until the year of 2100. Finally, this paper gives some suggestions for scholars to deeply study the service value of farmland ecosystem as well as for the government to formulate differentiation policies.
... In a country like Pakistan, it is more important because due to social traditions and values women travel with family. Results were in agreement with [21] whose finding showed that the men visit the natural sites is contrary to women. Findings highlighted that the people who were visiting the areas had moderate-income and were private employees because in Pakistan mostly peoples belong to middle-class families and worked in private companies due to the unavailability of occupation in government sectors. ...
Present research examined three selected villages landscape near Khanpur Dam, District Haripur, that's an offer to visitors the integrated knowledge of native ethos, history and environment. We first evaluated the landscape exploration and documentation of three selected villages i.e., Surraj Galli, Khoi Maira and Darra in Khanpur with a DSLR camera and Landsat 8 images, using the supervised image classification technique, by ArcGIS v10.3 during June 2019-2020. Second, we collected data from local communities and tourists by using two types of questionnaire survey and a total of 300 respondents were served over six months of period. In total 150 respondents from local communities were served questionnaire for documentation of selected communities' profile and their major flora, fauna. The sampling intensity was 2.5%. Most dominant respondents belonged to Raja, Malik and Aawan communities. Flora documentation was carried out by quadratics system taking 60 plots from study area with 0.5% sampling intensity. The tourist preferences and attitudes were surveyed involving 150 visitors. Most visitors belong to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and prefer to visit with friends more than family and relatives especially in spring and summer holidays. The result also indicated that the declaration of a noble landscape could benefit the local people.
... This is supported by Ndebele et al. (2014), who is of the position that the true benefits may be underestimated when using the median WTP as an estimate of welfare benefits. Many meta-analysis research work also utilized the mean estimate over the median estimates (Barrio and Loureiro 2010;Brander et al. 2007;Loomis and White 1996;Horowitz and McConnell 2003). Despite this current research preference to the mean WTP (Ndebele et al. 2014) and its applicability being more pragmatic for cost-benefit analysis (Johansson 1993), some of the seminal work on CVM initially argued that the median WTP is a more empirically interpretable approach (Hanemann 1984;NOAA 1993). ...
The economic valuation of ecosystem services (ES) has been widely used for understanding the changes in the stock and flow of an ecosystem. The accepted notion is that as a result of markets failing to realize the benefits gained by society from ecosystems, there is a loss of ecosystem function and resources as they are viewed as free public goods. The Shell Beach area is one of the designated protected areas of Guyana and the only protected coastal zone in the country. It is also considered an ecosystem and biodiversity hotspot. The geographical location of Shell Beach in the Region 1 area of Guyana shows the area vulnerable to coastal erosion and pollution particularly from potential oil spills in the country’s current oil operation. This study intends to estimate the value of the Shell Beach protected area based on what people are willing to pay to avoid a loss in the size of the protected area. The study adopts a discrete choice contingent valuation method which was used to calculate the average willingness to pay to avoid a loss in the Shell Beach area. Based on the data collected, it is estimated that people are willing to pay an average somewhere between US346.67 per year to avoid a loss in the Shell Beach area. The results show that people have a relatively high value for the area and would like to see the area protected from destruction.
The necessary ecosystem services can be effectively provided through the diverse functioning and processes of ecosystems. Apart from services provided by natural and semi-natural ecosystems, the study on ecosystem development on mineral habitats, established as by-products of mining activity, have revealed surprising results. Unrecognised yet crucial ecosystem services can be provided by novel ecosystems that develop spontaneously on mineral sites created due to human activities, such as mineral mining. These mineral habitats and the ecosystems established de novo provide a wide range of ecosystem services. Modelling ecosystem functioning can simulate and predict the effects of interventions on ecosystem services provided by novel ecosystems. This approach supports adaptive management strategies that maximise desired services while minimising negative impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem integrity. Understanding the functioning of novel ecosystems and their ecosystem services is crucial for enhancing resilience, promoting restoration efforts, and implementing sustainable land-use practices. Recognising the importance of ecosystem services provided by novel ecosystems and involving stakeholders in decision-making processes can foster public support for conservation initiatives and promote collaboration among diverse stakeholders. This approach is particularly important given that many activities related to the re-development of post-industrial areas, especially post-mining regions, have fallen short of achieving their objectives. The essential role of ecosystem services provided by natural, semi-natural, and novel ecosystems highlights the importance of the ecosystem functioning modelling approaches. Such approaches are needed to understand and quantify these services in the context of adhering to sustainable development principles during urban development.
Oxylipin signalling is central in biology, mediating processes such as cellular homeostasis, inflammation and molecular signalling. It may also facilitate inter‐partner communication in the cnidarian‐dinoflagellate symbiosis, though this aspect remains understudied. In this study, four oxylipin receptors were characterised using immunohistochemistry and immunoblotting in the sea anemone Exaiptasia diaphana (‘Aiptasia’): Prostaglandin E2 receptor 2 (EP2) and 4 (EP4), Transient Receptor Potential cation channel A1 (TRPA1) and Glutamate Receptor Ionotropic, Kainate 2 (GRIK2). Receptor abundance and localisation were compared between aposymbiotic anemones and symbiotic anemones hosting either native Breviolum minutum or non‐native Durusdinium trenchii . All receptors were localised to the putative symbiosome of freshly isolated symbionts, suggesting a role in host‐symbiont crosstalk. EP2, EP4 and TRPA1 abundance decreased in the gastrodermis of anemones hosting B . minutum , indicating potential downregulation of pathways mediated by these receptors. In contrast, GRIK2 abundance increased in anemones hosting D . trenchii in both the epidermis and gastrodermis; GRIK2 acts as a chemosensor of potential pathogens in other systems and could play a similar role here given D . trenchii 's reputation as a sub‐optimal partner for Aiptasia. This study contributes to the understanding of oxylipin signalling in the cnidarian‐dinoflagellate symbiosis and supports further exploration of host‐symbiont molecular signalling.
As presented in the other chapters of the book, calcareous algae are of paramount importance in several ecosystemic aspects. In this chapter, we address the importance of assessing the value of this ecosystem in an integrated way that goes according to different perspectives and contexts around the world. The pluralist understanding and evaluation of the value of these ecosystems should lead policymakers to maintain their sustainability. Understanding, therefore, aspects of various rhodolith beds should help in understanding the importance of these ecosystems in providing contributions to people. Here, we briefly present the processes that occur within rhodolith beds that lead to the contributions of this ecosystem to people. These contributions are known within regulatory categories, such as oxygen production and carbon storage; materials, such as nutrient cycling and the food chain; in addition to nonmaterial contributions, such as scenic beauty landscapes that attract tourists; or even as inspiration for art and science.
Global climate change scenarios due to anthropogenic responses jeopardize ecosystem sustainability and hinder progress toward achieving the United nations (UN-SDGs). Achieving “natural carbon solutions” from terrestrial ecosystems is challenging due to decreasing arable land and increasing marginal land. Marine ecosystems representing a wider “natural carbon solutions” have also been severely impacted by climate change. Among marine ecosystems, coral reefs and seaweed communities are the key ecosystem engineers that support a wide range of marine life, facilitate nutrient cycling, and provide essential ecosystem services with a pivotal role in sustaining coastal economies and livelihoods. Notably, these communities compete for space within the reef ecosystem and suffer from loss of diversity and richness due to climate change. Therefore, assessing the climate change resilience of both the corals and seaweeds is essential to evaluate and design long-term adaptation strategies, ecological innovations, and science-informed policies to conserve, restore, and sustainably manage economic services. This review article aims to highlight (1) the physiological response and resilience of corals and seaweeds to environmental changes, (2) the impact of climate change on their ecosystems and economic services, (3) their potential contributions towards the United Nations' sustainable goals, (4) progressive efforts applied for their restoration, and (5) the potential complementary value of large-scale seaweed aquaculture as a carbon sink.
Expansion of floating photovoltaic (FPV) solar energy on water could provide a low-conflict renewable energy option to help mitigate climate change while sparing land, but potential sustainability trade-offs of FPV siting have not been quantified. We compared technical potential of maximum, utility-scale (≥1 MW) FPV deployment to address the climate crisis with FPV buildout scenarios that prioritize biodiversity and social benefit across a waterscape. Maximum FPV buildout in the northeastern United States could provide nearly a quarter of regional solar energy generation and offset all the land needed for utility-scale, terrestrial solar by 2050, but trade-offs, including maintenance of freshwater biodiversity in lakes and ponds and social values, exist. Avoidance of socioenvironmental interactions yields an FPV-energy generation potential equal to a 5% increase in regional solar energy generation, but possibilities for co-location make this a conservative estimate. Consideration of trade-offs can guide siting of FPV to achieve multiple sustainability goals.
Human interest in biodiversity is essential for effective conservation action but remains poorly quantified at large scales. Here, we investigated human interest for 2408 marine reef fishes using data obtained from online public databases and social media, summarized in two synthetic dimensions, research effort and public attention. Both dimensions are mainly related to geographic range size. Research effort is also linked to fishery importance, while public attention is more related to fish aesthetic value and aquarium trade importance. We also found a strong phylogenetic bias, with certain fish families receiving disproportional research effort and public attention. Most concerningly, species at the highest risk of extinction and those most vulnerable to future climate change tend to receive less research effort and public attention. Our results provide a lens through which examining the societal attention that species garner, with the ultimate goals to improve conservation strategies, research programs, and communication plans.
Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) is a persistent organic pollutant (POP) that is characterized by fluorinated alkyl chains and resistant to all forms of environmental degradation. One of the most abundant compounds of per-and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) in the natural environment, PFOA has been detected in water and sediment samples across the globe and acquired significant attention for its potential health implications and effects. Previous studies have suggested significant negative impacts on metabolic functions in humans, animals, and plants, but no study has yet quantified the impact on coral reef populations. This study investigates the effects of PFOA exposure on both early life phases and in molecular responses in Hawaiian reef-building corals, Montipora capitata and Porites lobata, respectively. Both physiological conditions, and molecular indicators of stress were measured with Western blot methods to analyze the expression of select coral proteins with xenobiotic metabolizing enzymes. No significant differences in fertilization success or larval survival were observed between treatments of environmentally relevant concentrations of PFOA in M. capitata gametes and larvae. Six molecular biomarkers were examined in Western blots for indications of sublethal stress in P. lobata adult samples. The study did not find significant indications of stress in the coral animal itself, but it did suggest impacts to heat shock protein, glutathione reductase, and cytochrome p450 expression. Future experiments should implement longer-term exposures and use more specific molecular techniques to get a clearer understanding of the threats involved with PFOA exposure, and to observe if exposure impacts the ability of adult corals to form gametes and perform spawning events. This information will aid in the management and regulation of PFOA and other PFASs environmental and human health protection
Coral reefs in Oman boast remarkable biodiversity and distinct features, yet their economic contribution remains largely unexplored, making this topic seriously under-researched. This study addresses this gap by aiming to estimate the recreational value of ecosystem services offered by natural and artificial coral reefs along Oman's coastline, a valuable asset that falls under the category of public goods that has never been assessed. Moreover, the study delves into the impact of varying reef richness levels, indicating biodiversity levels, on overall recreational value in this seldom-studied region with significant coral reef resources. Notably, this research marks the first attempt in the literature to examine the influence of different richness levels of reefs on recreational value. A survey was conducted to evaluate the recreational value of ecosystem services provided by coral reefs using Travel Cost Method. Coral reefs are found to provide an annual consumer surplus of 187,763 OMR (about 487,727 USD), emphasizing their substantial economic value. Greater biodiversity within a reef corresponds to a higher preference among recreationists, leading to increased economic benefits and enhanced consumers satisfaction. The substantial increase in recreational demand at sites with high reef richness levels underscores the importance of these ecosystems not just for their intrinsic natural value but also for their contribution to the tourism sector. It is essential for decision-makers to focus on the preservation of existing coral reefs as a primary concern, prior to contemplating the creation of additional reefs to enhance marine tourism.
Using both the travel cost and contingent valuation methods, a case study of Lakes Prespa was utilized to assess the demand functions for carp and non-carp angling separately. An on-site survey questionnaire was used to collect the data, which was completed in 2019. The results showed that when travel costs and bid amounts are higher or when anglers are traveling in larger groups, they travel less frequently. On the other hand, the number of trips is positively correlated with income, angling experience, the use of a motorized boat, the number of trips taken to other sites, and retirement. The mean daily consumer surplus values for carp and non-carp anglers were calculated to be €7.24 and €4.33, respectively, using the trip cost method, and €7.83 and €4.61 using the contingent valuation method. Regardless of the method of valuation utilized, carp anglers' consumer surplus was more than 1.7 times that of non-carp anglers, demonstrating that ordering in fish species values is robust to valuation methods. Furthermore, the convergent validity of the two techniques was identified. The results will help fisheries managers make more successful and resource-efficient fishing decisions, as well as policymakers justify funding initiatives targeted at managing and protecting this resource.
Wetlands play an important role in survival of the human species and animals. Estimating the value of their existence will make growth and developmentof internal and external ecotourism development. The present study aimed to estimate the economic value of Shirinsu wetland in the Hamadan province using the method of the Zonal travel cost. Correlation and regression analysis used to conduct research. Data needed for research, such as the socio-economic, Tourists travel cost and distance to Shirinsu lagoon side, collected using a random sampling of 100 completed questionnaires were filledin the summer 2013. Data analysis performed by SPSS software. The results of statistical analysis between income levels and number of working days and lagoons to pay and entrance showed that they strongly and positively correlated. Also there was a strong and negative correlation between the number of visitors,travelcost and the distance for visit. Results showed respectively age, education, income visitors, cost and distance has a significant effect on the promenade. Estimation of Tourism Demand of Shirinsu wetlands also showed that the cost of travel, the amount of monthly income, Age and education levelare most significant factors( p<5%). Also calculating the area under the curve of demand from visitor’s daily and annual recreational value of shirinsu wetland was equivalent to 92000515 and 33580187975 riyals.Thees results show the high economic value promenadethat need more attention to management and development of tourism in this region.
On the basis of a review of studies on the stated preference valuation of China’s marine ecosystem services conducted between 1996 and 2021, this paper presents a meta-analysis of the estimates of marine ecosystem service benefits by using a multilevel modeling approach. The results indicate that a range of factors influence the estimated economic values of China’s marine ecosystem services, including ecosystem area, ecosystem type, respondent identity, regional gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, ecosystem services being valued, valuation method, and hypothetical scenario being employed. Additionally, the meta-regression results indicate that the willingness to pay for marine ecosystem services in China depends largely on people’s perception of the importance of an ecosystem service. Such a perception is influenced by national policies, educational attainment, and the degree to which the service is linked to people’s lives. This situation is evidenced by the high willingness of people to pay for coastal wetlands and recreational services. People were also found to be most willing to pay for conservation scenarios and least willing to pay for environmental compensation scenarios. These findings contribute to the research on the valuation of marine ecosystem services in China and to the incorporation of research results into ecosystem-based management decisions by clarifying the effects of different factors on valuation estimates.
Coral reefs face an uncertain future punctuated by recurring climate-induced disturbances. Understanding how reefs can recover from and reassemble after mass bleaching events is therefore important to predict their responses and persistence in a rapidly changing ocean. On naturally extreme reefs characterized by strong daily temperature variability, coral heat tolerance can vary significantly over small spatial gradients but it remains poorly understood how this impacts bleaching resilience and recovery dynamics, despite their importance as resilience hotspots and potential refugia. In the macrotidal Kimberley region in NW Australia, the 2016 global mass bleaching event had a strong habitat-specific impact on intertidal and subtidal coral communities at our study site: corals in the thermally variable intertidal bleached less severely and recovered within six months, while 68% of corals in the moderately variable subtidal died. We therefore conducted benthic surveys 3.5 years after the bleaching event to determine potential changes in benthic cover and coral community composition. In the subtidal, we documented substantial increases in algal cover and live coral cover had not fully recovered to pre-bleaching levels. Furthermore, the subtidal coral community shifted from being dominated by branching Acropora corals with a competitive life history strategy to opportunistic, weedy Pocillopora corals which likely has implications for the functioning and stress resilience of this novel coral community. In contrast, no shifts in algal and live coral cover or coral community composition occurred in the intertidal. These findings demonstrate that differences in coral heat tolerance across small spatial scales can have large consequences for bleaching resilience and that spatial patchiness in recovery trajectories and community reassembly after bleaching might be a common feature on thermally variable reefs. Our findings further confirm that reefs adapted to high daily temperature variability play a key role as resilience hotspots under current climate conditions, but their ability to do so may be limited under intensifying ocean warming.
Objective
The color of the environment positively influences the development of some fish species. Thus, we evaluated whether different aquarium colors affected the metamorphosis process of Tomato Clownfish Amphiprion frenatus .
Methods
Operationally, we distributed the Tomato Clownfish larvae into white, yellow, blue, or black aquaria and monitored the larval development until 61 days posthatch.
Result
We found that environmental color influenced the early development of Tomato Clownfish and their metamorphosis process. In the black aquarium treatment, 87.2% of the larvae in block I completed metamorphosis and reached the juvenile stage, and 59.3% of larvae in block II completed metamorphosis (blocks represented two successive spawns). These high percentiles of metamorphosed larvae were not observed in the other tank color treatments.
Conclusion
Thus, our results suggest that the metamorphosis of Tomato Clownfish could be accelerated if the larviculture occurs in darker‐color conditions, especially black aquaria. This result has practical and economic implications since Tomato Clownfish specimens are commercialized at the juvenile stage.
To determine the amount of environmental goods and services to provide or preserve, it is necessary to weigh society's degree of preference for the environment. This value measure serves to inform the decision-making and policy-making process and there by justify the allocation of limited resources between competing uses. This paper provides an overview of economic valuation methods for environmental goods, with examples. Valuation methods include both demand and non-demand curve approaches, including the dose-response method, contigent valuation method and hedonic pricing.
Chemical pollution is constantly putting pressure on the environment. Advanced tools and models (in silico) are needed to assess, treat and prevent chemical contamination. During my PhD, a suite of models were developed for aquatic risk assessment of problematic chemicals. Topics include the chemical fate (how chemicals are distributed in the environment), exposure (how chemical concentrations are related to species’ exposures) and effects, moving from risk assessment of a single chemical to multi-chemicals. The developed models serve as valuable tools to determine whether contamination levels of chemicals or sites are present to warrant further investigation. In other words, our models can direct limited funds and resources to where they are really needed, including (bio)monitoring, testing and refined analysis.
Ecosystem accounting is a statistical framework that aims to track the state of ecosystems and ecosystem services, with periodic updates. This framework follows the statistical standard of the System of Environmental Economic Accounting Ecosystem Accounting (SEEA EA). SEEA EA is composed of physical ecosystem extent, condition and ecosystem service supply-use accounts and monetary ecosystem service and asset accounts. This paper focuses on the potential use of the “Value Transfer” (VT) valuation method to produce the monetary ecosystem service accounts, taking advantage of experience with rigorous benefit transfer methods that have been developed and tested over many years in environmental economics. Although benefit transfer methods have been developed primarily for welfare analysis, the underlying techniques and advantages are directly applicable to monetary exchange values required for ecosystem accounting. The compilation of regular accounts is about to become a key area of work for the National Statistical Offices worldwide as well as for the EU Member States in particular, due to the anticipated amendment to regulation on European environmental economic accounts introducing ecosystem accounts. On this basis, accounting practitioners have voiced their concerns in a global consultation during SEEA EA revision, about three issues in particular: the lack of resources, the need for guidelines and the challenge of periodically updating the accounts. We argue that VT can facilitate empirical applications that assess ecosystem services in monetary terms, especially at national scales and in situations with limited expertise and resources available. VT is a low-cost valuation approach in line with SEEA EA requirements able to provide periodic, rigorous and consistent estimates for use in accounts. While some methodological challenges remain, it is likely that VT can help to implement SEEA EA at scale and in time to respond to the pressing need to incorporate nature into mainstream decision-making processes.
We develop a travel-cost random utility model to estimate the value of recreational ecosystem services provided by more than 170 outdoor sites located on the island of Maui (Hawaii, USA). Particular emphasis is placed on the role of coastal ecosystems by combining recent fine-scale data on coral cover and fish biomass with information on almost 3000 recreation trips taken by Maui's residents. Our approach is grounded in economic theory and provides estimates that are directly applicable to inform a wide array of coastal management questions. Our results show that the 2014–2015 coral bleaching event caused losses in the order of $25 M per year to Maui's residents. We also identify the areas where coral reef restoration would maximize welfare gains. Impacts can vary up to a factor of 1000 across locations, demonstrating the need to carefully consider such heterogeneity in spatial prioritization. Our simulations also show how access fees or green taxes can raise funds for financing conservation measures aimed at bolstering coral reefs resilience to climate change.
We examine ethnicity and individual trip taking behavior associated with natural resource based recreation in the Florida Keys. We estimate trip demand using the travel cost method. We then extend this model with a varying parameter adaptation to test the congruency of demand and economic value across white and Hispanic user subgroups. Our findings indicate significant differences in price response leading to divergent per-trip consumer surplus and price elasticity between these two groups. These differences raise important distribution and equity concerns with respect to the possible future use of pricing policies like user fees.
The paper presents a variety of meta analysis models of woodland recreation benefit estimates, contrasting conventionally estimated models with those provided by novel, multi-level modeling (MLM) techniques (Goldstein 1995). Our conventional models suggest that studies carried out by certain authors are associated with unusually large residuals within our meta-analysis. However, the MLM approach explicitly incorporates the hierarchical nature of meta-analysis data, with estimates nested within study sites and authors. These residuals are not a significant determinant upon values, suggesting that, at least in this aspect, estimates may be more robust than indicated by less sophisticated models.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/4314367?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents
Marine parks are increasingly being established to protect endangered marine ecosystems and the biological diversity that they support. Trade-offs exist between protection and use, and ways must be found to produce economic benefits from marine areas while still yielding protection benefits, a question of particular importance to poorer countries that can ill afford to forego development benefits by enforcing strict protection measures. This paper examines these issues in the context of Caribbean marine parks. A number of countries that have established marine protected areas also rely on ocean-based tourism as an important, sometimes central, component of their economy. Can protection and direct use be compatible? Bonaire Marine Park is examined in some detail and monetary estimates are presented. Initial results indicate that proper management can yield both protection and development benefits but questions of ecosystem carrying capacity and national retention of revenues raise important issues for longer term sustainability. -Authors
Coral reefs are a resource of immense importance for a large number of people, especially the coastal populations of the developing world. Available information on coral reefs in Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia has been used to evaluate the ecological services provided by coral reefs and to assess the long-term economic benefits derived from some of the ecosystem functions. The minimum economic value of coral reefs in Sri Lanka is estimated at USD 140 000-7 500 000 km -2 reef over a 20-yr period. The economic consequences of coral mining were investigated and economic costs (USD 110 000-7 360 000) were found to exceed net benefits (USD 750 000-1 670 000) by as much as USD 6 610 000 km -2 reef when analyzed over 20 years in tourism areas. The highest costs were associated with decreased tourism (USD 2-3 million) and increased erosion (USD 1-4 million). However, in rural areas there is still a strong incentive for coral mining, because coral mining in the short-term perspective provides a more profitable business compared to fishing and agriculture. The results have implications for management and show that Sri Lankan legislation banning coral mining in the coastal zone is beneficial to the country's economic development.
We divide a data set on lake recreation in Wisconsin into two
nonoverlappmg samples, Milwaukee residents and non-Milwaukee residents.
We then consider several hypothetical benefit transfers from a
non-Milwaukee-based random utility model to Milwaukee residents. All
transfers are for measuring water quality improvements. We consider
transfers in which we assume no information on Milwaukee residents,
limited (no behavioral) information, and some behavioral information. We
consider simple transfers, model transfers, and updated transfers. In
all cases we test the viability of the transfer by comparing it with
benefits estimated from a random utility model estimated over the
Milwaukee sample, which in effect is our "true" model. The values from
the model and updated transfers typically deviated less than 10% from
the true values. Confidence intervals are estimated by using the
Krinsky-Robb procedure for all of the benefit measures computed from the
random utility model.
Coastal areas in the tropics are increasingly being developed for tourism. The combined natural features of beaches, coral reefs, warm marine waters and often a friendly culture of people, offer desirable destinations for many travelers. Although coastal tourism generates substantial economic benefits to local and national economies, the trade-off of such development is usually degradation of coastal environment. Poor environmental planning and lack of consideration of social-cultural issues are usual causes. This article examines the case of Hikkaduwa town and marine sanctuary, Sri Lanka, where tourism development has nearly ruined the coastal environment. Integrated coastal management in Sri Lanka through a community-based 'Special Area Management' (SAM) plan for Hikkaduwa is examined. The ongoing and proposed management actions required to solve the environmental and social problems are analyzed in a cost-benefit framework. Financial, social-economic and environmental economic analyses for a 20-year project life all strongly support investment in SAM plan implementation. Untapped consumer surplus of visitors to Hikkaduwa has a large potential to contribute to costs. To ensure sustainability of tourism and resources, policies on how to finance plan implementation through profit sharing and locally collected fees are suggested.
Increasing use of marine protected areas for pursuits such as recreational scuba diving may lead to biological damage and reduced amenity values in popular locations. The relationships between biological and amenity values are discussed and the work of Dixonet al. (1993, Meeting ecological and economic goals: marine parks in the Caribbean.Ambio22, 117–125) on allocating divers between sites is extended. It is concluded that the carrying capacity concept and the critical thresholds approach are constrained by a number of limitations on their effectiveness as resource management tools. The optimal allocation of users between recreational dive sites is, subsequently, examined and the potential application of economic instruments to achieve such an allocation is assessed. It is concluded that a judicious blend of regulation and the use of economic instruments will be required to overcome open access and boundary problems, and will provide for better overall management of popular marine recreational sites than is presently the case. Education will also have a significant role to play by increasing environmental awareness and reducing the damaging impacts caused by users of those popular sites.
The services of ecological systems and the natural capital stocksthat produce them are critical to the functioning of the
Earth’s life-support system. They contribute to human welfare, both directly and indirectly, and therefore represent
part of the total economic value of the planet.We have estimated the current economic value of 17 ecosystem services
for 16 biomes, based on published studies and a few original calculations. For the entire biosphere, the value (most of
which is outside the market) is estimated to be in the range of US33trillion per year. Because of the nature of the uncertainties, thismust be considered a minimum estimate. Global
gross national product total is around US$18 trillion per year.
This paper presents the results from a contingent valuation (CV) that elicited willingness to pay (WTP) of OECD citizens, for the conservation of the Giant Panda. The study investigates the extent to which such a charismatic or flagship species can be used to promote wider biodiversity conservation. There exists an internally consistent WTP for the purchase of property rights of the habitat required for the conservation of the panda. This WTP is shown to consist largely of the value placed on the ‘‘naturalness’’ of the species, implying that the symbolic nature of the panda might be a potential in
There is growing interest in the potential for producing generally applicable models for valuing non-market environmental
services which do not rely upon expensive and time-consuming survey work, but rather extrapolate results from previous studies.
This paper presents a meta-analysis for the use and non-use values generated by wetlands across North America and Europe.
The study assesses the socio-economic values attributable to the hydrological, biogeochemical and ecological functions provided
by such complex environmental assets. The clustering of multiple values derived from single studies is examined through the
application of multilevel modelling methods allowing for the hierarchical structure of such data.
Dose-response modeling has been widely used to document links between anthropogenic stressors and ecosystem attributes, and as a basis in the economic valuation of pollution damage. We review studies on the relation between anthropogenic stress factors and coral-reef attributes valuable in recreation, discuss the components of the economic value of coral reefs, and examine the potential use of dose-response functions in the economic valuation of coral-reef damage.
Understanding the recreational value of natural resources is crucial to effective conservation programmes. When natural resources are threatened with dire consequences by human activities, their recreational value is greatly reduced, thus affecting their contribution to conservation programmes. The purpose of this research is to explore the recreational value of the coral-surrounded Hon Mun Islands. The islands contain the richest coral biodiversity in the country and are only about six km from a port, which has been earmarked for expansion. This research employs the travel cost method and the contingent valuation method to measure and analyse impacts on the recreational value of the islands. The zonal travel cost model (ZTCM) estimates the annual recreational value at approximately USD 17.9 million while the result from the individual travel cost model (ITCM) is about USD 8.7 million. A 20% loss of the recreational value that is expected to ensue from the proposed port expansion is still larger than the expanded port's projected annual revenue of USD 3.1 million. Therefore, the port expansion proposal seriously needs reevaluation.
The services of ecological systems and the natural capital stocks that produce them are critical to the functioning of the Earth's life-support system. They contribute to human welfare, both directly and indirectly, and therefore represent part of the total economic value of the planet. We have estimated the current economic value of 17 ecosystem services for 18 biomes, based on published studies and a few original calculations. For the entire biosphere, the value (most of which in outside the market) in estimated to be in the range of US33 trillion per year. Because of the nature of the uncertainties, thin must be considered a minimum estimate. Global gross national product total is around US$18 trillion per year.
In this paper we present the first ecological economic model of coral reefs in Hawai'i. This model contains the main elements required to assess the full picture of coral reef management and thereby enables scientists and managers to evaluate ecological and economic impacts effectively. The model is applied to two case studies, tourist overuse in Hanauma Bay, O'ahu, and algae blooms along the Kihei coast, Maui. The Hanauma study showed that visitors are willing to pay much more for their experience (around 100 million) greatly exceed the cost of the program (around 30 million over time. This would justify major investments in lowering nutrient discharges in the coastal zone.
The aim of this paper is to place an economic value on water based recreation undertaken in a northern part of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. For the purposes of this study this area has been named the Ingham Waters, a coastal area of approximately 8000 km2. It is used extensively by vessel owning residents of the North Queensland town of Ingham and surrounding districts for reactional purposes. The Ingham Waters are contained by the boundaries of Brook Islands above Cardwell in the north to Rattlesnake and Herald Islands in the south and from the coastal low water mark in the west to the outer reefs of the Slashers in the east. The range of habitats within this amenity is large; the low water mark contains the Rhizophora spp. of mangrove, a significant fish breeding habitat. Eastward are the continental islands, notably Hinchinbrook Island and the Palm Group. Further east again are the reefal communities, a diverse and important habitat for marine life. The Ingham Waters are particularly important for recreational fishing and other water based recreatiohn such as snorkelling, SCUBA diving, sailing and general nature appreciation. The contingent valuation method was used to derive a value recreational users placed on this coastal area.
In the past rational judgements for the solution of environmental issues have proved difficult to form as the respective interested parties have kept themselves within the extremes of the "preservationists' and "developmentalists' camps. In recent years there have been significant advances in the practice and methods of evaluation, particularly in extended cost-benefit analysis. Two recent empirical analyses of a coastal zone environment are summarised in this paper but with only passing reference to these methodological issues. The analyses pertain to the values of the Great Barrier Reef. Attitudinal and economic data were gathered from a random survey of visitors to the Great Barrier Reef in 1986, and complemented by a survey of the Australian population. The attitudinal data are drawn from Vanclay while the economic data are taken from Hundloe et al. -Author
A literature search provides 83 studies from which 616 comparisons of contingent valuation (CV) to revealed preference (RP) estimates are made. Summary statistics of the CV/RP ratios are provided for the complete dataset, a 5 percent trimmed dataset, and a weighted dataset that gives equal weight to each study rather than each CV/RP comparison. For the complete dataset, the sample mean CV/RP ratio is 0.89 with a 95 percent confidence interval [0.81-0.96] and a median of 0.75. For the trimmed and weighted datasets, these summary statistics are (0.77; [0.74-0.81]; 0.75) and (0.92; [0.81-1.03]; 0.94), respectively. The Spearman rank correlation coefficients between the CV and RP estimates for the three datasets are 0.78, 0.88, and 0.92. (JEL Q21).
Coral reef ecosystems provide many functions, services and goods to coastal populations, especially in the developing world. A variety of anthropogenic practices threatens reef health and therefore jeopardises the benefits flowing from these services and goods. These threats range from local pollution, sedimentation, destructive fishing practices and coral mining to global issues like coral bleaching. Economic valuation can help to shed light to the importance of the services and goods by 'getting some of the numbers on the table'. Valuation tech-niques are discussed and a summary of economic studies on coral reefs is presented. The concepts of Total Economic Value and Cost Benefit Analysis are used to illustrate the valuation of marine protected areas (national parks, etc.) and of threats.
The desire for economic values of recreation for unstudied recreation resources dates back to the water resource development benefit-cost analyses of the early 1960s. Rather than simply applying existing estimates of benefits per trip to the study site, a fairly rigorous approach was developed by a number of economists. This approach involves application of travel cost demand equations and contingent valuation benefit functions from existing sites to the new site. In this way the spatial market of the new site (i.e., its differing own price, substitute prices and population distribution) is accounted for in the new estimate of total recreation benefits. The assumptions of benefit transfer from recreation sites in one state to another state for the same recreation activity is empirically tested. The equality of demand coefficients for ocean sport salmon fishing in Oregon versus Washington and for freshwater steelhead fishing in Oregon versus Idaho is rejected. Thus transfer of either demand equations or average benefits per trip are likely to be in error. Using the Oregon steelhead equation, benefit transfers to rivers within the state are shown to be accurate to within 5-15%.
The coastal environment in Barbados is the foundation of its tourism-based economy. With increasing emphasis on tourism for generating revenue, the importance of beaches cannot be overemphasized. This study describes methodo logical procedures that could be applied for valuating beaches for tourism. The results reveal that the value of beaches could be substantial. These values could be used, inter alia, for efficient beach management, for the possible implemen tation of a user fee, and in litigations for obtaining compen sation due to man-made disasters.
The application of metaregression analysis models for the purpose of
benefit transfer is investigated using in-sample convergent validity
tests on average value transfers. The database on which the
metaregression analysis models are developed is composed of empirical
outdoor recreation use value studies conducted from 1967 through 1998.
Results of the convergent validity tests suggest that the national model
is slightly more robust to changes in application than the Census Region
models. The results suggest that the application of meta-analysis for
benefit transfers is promising considering limitations imposed by
inconsistent data reporting of original studies.
Coral reefs are a resource of immense importance for a large number of people, especially the coastal populations of the developing world. Available information on coral reefs in Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia has been used to evaluate the ecological services provided by coral reefs and to assess the long-term economic benefits derived from some of the ecosystem functions. The minimum economic value of coral reefs in Sri Lanka is estimated at USD 140 000-7 500 000 km(-2) reef over a 20-yr period. The economic consequences of coral mining were investigated and economic costs (USD 110 000-7 360 000) were found to exceed net benefits (USD 750 000-1 670 000) by as much as USD 6 610 000 km(-2) reef when analyzed over 20 years in tourism areas. The highest costs were associated with decreased tourism (USD 2-3 million) and increased erosion (USD 1-4 million). However, in rural areas there is still a strong incentive for coral mining, because coral mining in the short-term perspective provides a more profitable business compared to fishing and agriculture. The results have implications for management and show that Sri Lankan legislation banning coral mining in the coastal zone is beneficial to the country's economic development.
Artificial reefs used as submarine and dive tour sites receive less fishing pressure from the public because the high use patterns by dive tour firms preclude much of the fishing activity. Such reefs when used as part of a non-destructive “eco-tourism” dive package provide significantly greater economic return than when used for commercial fishery purposes. Annual gross revenue from the commercial fishery of one open-access dive tour artificial reef analyzed in this study is 4% of the annual pre-tax profit of dive tours operating on this same reef. Moreover, the daily estimated catch from this reef is equivalent to the estimated annual sustainable yield, suggesting that the fishery is capitalizing on fishes aggregating to the reef rather than in situ production. If the rationale for artificial reef development is economic gain and a viable tourist industry presently exists, reefs deployed for non-consumptive purposes may provide the best use, especially when fishery resources are in a state of decline.
Same-site comparisons of Maldive–Chagos reefs in the 1990s with studies before 1980 have found large losses in coral cover that were probably associated with warm El Niño events. To determine the spatial extent of this damage and potential for recovery I surveyed benthic cover, hard coral communities, and coral recruitment in previously unsurveyed sites in three reef atolls of the central Maldives in 1999, one year after the warmest recorded El Niño event of 1997–1998. Coral cover was the lowest recorded for this region, at 8%, and evidence for the local extirpation of species was found. Most reefs are presently dominated by coralline and turf algae (68%) with erect fleshy algae and sponge being higher than previously reported on Maldivian reefs. Branching coral species appeared most affected and the dominant coral genera in 1998 were massive Porites and Astreopora, whereas the original community was dominated by Acropora. Coral recruits were sufficiently abundant, at 29 ind/m2, to insure recovery of coral cover, but the most common recruits were in genera previously reported as subordinate genera, such as Pavona (11.7 ind/m2) and Coscinarea (4.4 ind/m2), whereas the previously dominant branching and encrusting species (Acropora, Montipora and Pocillopora) had recruit densities less than 0.65 ind/m2. Unless there is significant compensation in growth and mortality there may be future changes in coral species composition and benthic cover of these reefs.
The economic values of outdoor recreation are estimated using a benefit transfer approach in which one applies existing consumer surplus measures to value the resources at a new site. In this article, a benefit transfer study was conducted based on meta-analysis of existing research in outdoor recreation use values of the United States from 1967 to 1998. The meta-analysis method was used to estimate a meta-regression model, resulting in a benefit transfer function that could be applied to estimate a wide range of recreation activity values in other countries. The estimated meta-model was tested using original out-of-sample studies from countries around the world for international benefit transfer purposes. The tests reveal that there is mixed evidence in using meta-analysis of existing studies in outdoor recreation in the United States to value the recreational resources in other countries that are used by tourists. In the best case, 18 correlation coefficients between meta-predicted and out-of-sample values were positive and significant at the 5% level or greater, but nine of the 18 t-tests indicated a significant difference between the two sets of values at the 10% level. However, the absolute average percentage error of the meta-predictions was 28%, which may be acceptable for many benefit transfer applications.
Past economic valuations of tropical marine parks inaccurately measure their economic benefits because they value the resource protected and not the protection provided. Instead, the economic benefit of a marine park should be measured as the savings from avoided losses in reef value that would result in the absence of park protection, net of any costs of protection. Proponents of marine parks posit that reef quality will decline in the absence of active park protection. The economic benefit of the marine park is the value of avoided reef degradation. An economic framework is developed to show how marine parks and protected areas ought to be valued. An example using data from the Bonaire Marine Park is given.
The number of studies quantify the value of wetlands and the services provided by these ecosystems is rapidly expanding. The time is ripe for an assessment of what has been learned from this literature. Using results from 39 studies, we evaluate the relative value of different wetland services, the sources of bias in wetland valuation and the returns to scale exhibited in wetland values. While some general trends are beginning to emerge, the prediction of a wetland's value based on previous studies remains highly uncertain and the need for site-specific valuation efforts remains large.
The main objectives of the paper are to (1) give an overview of the state of the art of environmental value transfer, (2) discuss its prospects and potential role in CBA as a decision-support tool, and (3) provide further guidelines for proper use and application. Environmental value or benefit transfer is a technique in which the results of studies on monetary environmental valuation are applied to new policy contexts. The technique is controversial, not least because of academic and political reservations over the usefulness and technical feasibility of economic valuation tools to demonstrate the importance of environmental values in project or programme appraisals. Testing of environmental value transfer so far has been unable to validate the practice. Taking into account the conditions set out in the literature for valid and reliable value transfer, most transfers appear to result in substantial transfer errors. This paper discusses why and addresses the question of which factors may have been overlooked. It is argued that the problem is much more fundamental than previously acknowledged. Strict guidelines in terms of quantitative adjustment mechanisms to valid value transfer are meaningless if the more fundamental issue of differences in the very nature of the values elicited is not addressed at the same time.
A contingent valuation study is conducted to estimate willingness to pay (WTP) for reducing skin cancer risks. A split sample design contrasts dichotomous choice (DC) with open-ended (OE) methods for eliciting WTP. A novel scope test varies the remit of risk reductions from just the individual respondent to their entire household allowing us to examine both the statistical significance and scale of scope sensitivity. While OE responses fail such tests, DC responses pass both forms of testing. We conclude that conformity of the size of scope effects with prior expectations should form a focus for future validity testing.
The welfare loss of de facto ecological damage at an internationally visited recreational site was estimated by comparing stated preference information from before and after the actual change in quality occurred. Estimates for access to the site and for access to coral reefs before and after coral bleaching and mortality hit the Western Indian Ocean in 1998 were derived using the cost of the trip as a payment vehicle. The model assumed indivisibility in consumption for the visit to these long distance specialised sites. It was found that despite losses in utility due to bleaching the tourists still visited the sites.
With increasing demand for low-density recreational services and limited supply of facilities to provide them, congestion is becoming an important management problem. The purpose of this paper is to outline a model of congestion, estimate the effect of it upon individual willingness to pay for wilderness experiences, and illustrate how these results might be used for efficient management. A survey of users of the Spanish Peaks Primitive Area indicates that their revealed willingness to pay is significantly affected by encroachments upon the solitude they experience during their trip. Consequently, congestion effects for such services can be measured and used in the formation of administrative policy.
Although there is a growing awareness about the many benefits of natural ecosystems, concrete information on their full economic value is still scarce. This thesis provides a comprehensive method whereby all functions and values of natural and semi-natural ecosystems can be assessed and evaluated in a systematic manner. A checklist of 37 environmental functions is given with examples of the functions and socio-economics value of three major types of ecosystems: tropical moist forests (based on a case study of the Darien National Park, a pre-montane rainforest on the border between Panama and Colombia), wetlands (based on a case study of the Dutch Wadden Sea) and an oceanic, volcanic island ecosystem: the Galapagos National Park (Ecuador). In order to achieve the conservation and sustainable utilization of nature and natural resources, better information on the (economic) importance of natural areas alone, however, is not enough. Unless ecological information is structurally integrated in economic planning and decision-making, solving environmental problems will prove difficult, if not impossible. In the last section of this thesis, the use of the function-concept as a tool in planning, management and decision-making is therefore discussed in detail, including the application in project-evaluation, in environmental (or ecological) economics, in environmental law, and in environmental education.
University Microfilms order no. UMI00413166. Thesis (M.D.E.)--Dalhousie University, 1992. Includes bibliographical references.
Thesis (B.A.)--Williams College, Dept. of Environmental Studies, 1994. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 61-62).
Thesis (MA)--Dalhousie University, 1995. Includes bibliographical references. Photocopy.