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Valuing local endangered species: The role of intra-species substitutes
Abstract
Valuation of endangered species is important in many circumstances, and particularly when assessing the impact of large accidental oil spills. Previous studies have tested the effects of including in the contingent valuation survey reminders about the existence of diverse substitutes (in terms of other natural resources also in danger of extinction in the same area, other programs to be valued, or alternative uses of money). We include a reminder about the existence of the same biological species not being under danger of extinction elsewhere. We believe this reminder allows individuals to make an easy assessment of the biological scarcity of the species they are supposed to value. Thus, the key difference with previous studies is that valuation of endangered species is combined with an assessment of preferences towards conservation of local and native species. Our WTP results are not sensitive to the information provided about other foreign substitutes. Implications of this finding are discussed.
... This method is based on a questionnaire which reveals the individual's Willingness To Pay (WTP). CVM is one of the methods most frequently used in the evaluation of wetlands (Loomis et al. 2000;Yang et al. 2008; Laroutis and Taïbi, 2010), threatened species (Loureiro and Ojea 2008), biodiversity (Christie et al. 2006), and so on. ...
... Recently, several studies have underlined the significance of an individual's location on the WTP (Garcia et al. 2009;Loomis et al. 2000; Loureiro and Ojea 2008;Wang et al. 2007). Beaumais et al. (2008), evaluating preservation of the Seine Estuary wetlands, found significant differences in WTP between inhabitants in the rural countryside and those of large cities (who were ready to contribute more to protect the wetlands). ...
The Contingent Valuation Method is used to evaluate individual preferences for a change concerning a public non-market resource or property. The objective is to build a nonparametric forecasting model of an individual's Willingness To Pay according to geographical location. Within this framework, an estimator (of type Nadaraya-Watson) is proposed for the regression of the variable related to geolocation. The specific characteristics of the location variable lead us to a more general regression model than the traditional models. Results are established for convergence of our estimator.
... We expected that people with high incomes would be more likely to pay as well as to pay more for threatened bird conservation in Australia, as found for other threatened wildlife (e.g. for the conservation of black-faced spoonbills (Platalea minor) [19], for peregrine falcons (Falco peregrinus) and shortnose sturgeon (Acipenser brevirostrum) [17]). Age has been found to be a consistent predictor which is negatively related to WTP for environmental amenities in general [30] and, for example, for the recovery of the guillemot (Uria aalge) population in Spain [31] specifically. Being female is often positively associated with higher WTP for environmental amenities ( [30]; and, for example, for biodiversity protection in Germany [32] and the conservation of Mediterranean monk seals (Monachus monachus) [33]), and so we hypothesise that women have a higher WTP for wild birds than men. ...
... There was, however, an effect of age, with respondents over 65 being less likely to pay, which is in line with the attitudes of young people towards taking environmental responsibility [61]. This confirmed our hypothesis of a negative relationship between age and WTP [30] with older people (beyond work force age) potentially not able to contribute as much money as younger people [31]. While people in Australia, as in some other wealthy countries like the USA and Japan, may be less directly involved with wildlife than they were historically [62], there still appears to be a strong wish among young people to prevent species extinctions, which is consistent with a substantial interest in retaining wildlife even without seeing it [18,63]. ...
Threatened species programs need a social license to justify public funding. A contingent valuation survey of a broadly representative sample of the Australian public found that almost two thirds (63%) supported funding of threatened bird conservation. These included 45% of a sample of 645 respondents willing to pay into a fund for threatened bird conservation, 3% who already supported bird conservation in another form, and 15% who could not afford to pay into a conservation fund but who nevertheless thought that humans have a moral obligation to protect threatened birds. Only 6% explicitly opposed such payments. Respondents were willing to pay about AUD 11 annually into a conservation fund (median value), including those who would pay nothing. Highest values were offered by young or middle aged men, and those with knowledge of birds and those with an emotional response to encountering an endangered bird. However, the prospect of a bird going extinct alarmed almost everybody, even most of those inclined to put the interests of people ahead of birds and those who resent the way threatened species sometimes hold up development. The results suggest that funding for threatened birds has widespread popular support among the Australian population. Conservatively they would be willing to pay about AUD 14 million per year, and realistically about AUD 70 million, which is substantially more than the AUD 10 million currently thought to be required to prevent Australian bird extinctions.
... Au centre de cette méthode, nous trouvons un questionnaire qui permet de révéler le consentementàconsentementà payer (CAP) des individus notamment pour des biens hors- marchés. C'est l'une des techniques les plus communément appliquées pour définir une valeur monétaire de biens non-marchands et notamment de zones humides ( Loomis et al., 2000 ;Yang et al. 2008), d'espèces en danger (Loureiro et Ojea, 2008), de biodiversité ( Christie et al., 2006), etc. les enquêtés bénéficient dans le cadre du questionnaire d'une description détaillée du bienàévaluerbienàbienàévaluer. A partir de cesélémentsceséléments, ils doivent révéler leur CAP par rapport au bienétudiébienétudié c'est-` a-dire définir quel niveau de revenu ils seraient prêtsprêts`prêtsà donner pour un niveau inchangé de services rendus par le bien publicévaluépublicévalué. ...
... Récemment, de nombreusesétudesnombreusesétudes ont souligné l'impact significatif que peut jouer la localisation des enquêtés sur leur consentementàconsentement`consentementà payer ( Loumis et al., 2000 ;Wang et al., 2007 ;Loureiro et Ojea, 2008 ;Garcia et al, 2009). Beaumais et al. (2008) ...
La méthode d'évaluation contingente permet d'évaluer les préférences individuelles pour un changement concernant un bien public. Au centre de cette méthode, nous trouvons un questionnaire qui permet de révéler le consentement à payer (CAP), c'est-à-dire le niveau de revenu que des individus seraient prêts à donner pour des biens hors-marchés. C'est l'une des techniques les plus communément appliquées pour définir une valeur monétaire de biens non-marchands et notamment de zones humides , d'espèces en danger et de biodiversité et... Récemment, de nombreuses études ont souligné l'impact significatif que peut jouer la localisation des enquêtés sur leur consentement à payer. Il est par exemple révélé, concernant l'évaluation monétaire des zones humides de l'estuaire de la Seine, que les habitants des grandes villes consentent à payer plus que les ruraux pour la protection de ces zones. Ainsi, la nécessité d'analyser plus précisément l'impact de la localisation des individus sur leur consentement à payer apparaît naturellement. L'objectif est de construire un modèle de prévision non paramétrique du CAP d'un individu en fonction de sa localisation géographique. Dans ce cadre, une méthode adéquate d'estimation de type Nadaraya-Watson de la régression du (CAP) par rapport à sa localisation est proposée. Le caractère particulier de la variable de localisation amène à considérer un modèle de régression plus général que les modèles classiques. En effet, nous nous situons dans le cas où la variable explicative est à valeurs dans un espace mesurable. Des résultats de convergence ponctuelle de notre estimateur sont établis.
... While there exists a substantial literature on species valuation, it is difficult to draw inferences from this literature on average WTP for different types of species as the way in which species are described in the studies varies greatly. Much literature valuing preventing a loss of endangered species focuses very specifically on individual species in particular geographical regions or areas (Cerda et al. 2014;Chakir et al. 2016;Kaval et al. 2007;Johnston et al. 2015a, b;Loureiro and Ojea 2008). The rest of the literature typically deals with the loss of endangered species in more generic terms, such as number of species, percentage of area inhabited by species, physical area inhabited by species (Blamey et . ...
Prioritising investments to minimise or mitigate natural hazards such as wildfires and storms is of increasing importance to hazard managers. Prioritisation of this type can be strengthened by considering benefit and cost impacts. To evaluate benefits and costs, managers require an understanding of both the tangible economic benefits and costs of mitigation decisions, and the often intangible values associated with environmental, social and health-related outcomes. We review the state of non-market valuation studies that provide monetary equivalent estimates for the intangible benefits and costs that can be affected by natural hazard events or their mitigation. We discuss whether managers can usefully call upon these available estimates, with a view to using the benefit transfer approach to include non-market values in economic decision frameworks. Additional context-specific non-market valuation studies are required to provide a more accurate selection of value estimates for natural hazard decision making. Decision making would benefit from considering these values explicitly in prioritising natural hazard investments.
... We also considered the proximity of each species' range to the location of each shop, to assess if customers were more willing to donate to species found locally [37]. The distribution maps provided by the IUCN Red List [38] were used to classify a species as "local" if its distribution included the Australian state where a specific shop was located. ...
Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) play a key role in biodiversity conservation. The majority of these organisations rely on public donations to fund their activities, and therefore fundraising success is a determinant of conservation outcomes. In spite of this integral relationship, the key principals for fundraising success in conservation are still guided by expert opinion and anecdotal evidence, with very few quantitative studies in the literature. Here we assessed the behaviour of monetary donors across twenty-five different species-focused conservation campaigns organised by an NGO conservation and environmental society. The Australian Geographic Society (AGS) carried out fundraising campaigns over a five and half year period using an identical methodology in thirty-four of its country-wide network of outlet shops. AGS owns and operates these shops that sell toys and games related to science and nature. We tested how the following factors influenced monetary donations from members of the public:1) campaign duration, 2) appeal and familiarity of species, 3) species geographic distribution relative to the fundraising location, 4) level of income and education of potential donors, 5) age and gender profile of potential donors. Contrary to past research, we found most of these factors did not significantly influence the amount of donations made to each campaign by members of the public. Larger animals did elicit a significantly higher amount donated per transaction than smaller animals, as did shops located in poorer neighbourhoods. Our study findings contrast with past research that has focused largely on hypothetical donations data collected via surveys, and demonstrates the complexity and case-specific nature of relationships between donor characteristics and spending patterns. The study highlights the value of assessing real-world fundraising campaigns, and illustrates how collaboration between academia and NGOs could be used to better tailor fundraising campaigns to maximise donations from individual citizens.
... In the context of a PES, CV is used to estimate the maximum amount of money that the beneficiaries of a project are willing to pay to implement a program that ensures the provision of an ES. Certain valuation studies of ES are those by Zhongmin et al. (2003), Jin et al. (2008) and Loureiro and Ojea (2008), and examples that deal specifically with PES include studies by Ortega-Pacheco et al. (2009), Van Hecken et al. (2012 and Moreno-Sanchez et al. (2012). ...
Stated preference approaches, such as contingent valuation, focus mainly on the estimation of the mean or median willingness to pay (WTP) for an environmental good. Nevertheless, these two welfare measures may not be appropriate when there are social and political concerns associated with implementing a payment for environmental services (PES) scheme. In this paper the authors used a Bayesian estimation approach to estimate a quantile binary regression and the WTP distribution in the context of a contingent valuation PES application. Our results show that the use of other quantiles framed in the supermajority concept provides a reasonable interpretation of the technical nonmarket valuation studies in the PES area. We found that the values of the mean WTP are 10–37 times higher than the value that would support a supermajority of 70 per cent of the population.
... Contingent Valuation (CV) is the most commonly used technique to evaluate environmental amenities in the literature, according to our SR exercise. It is often employed in the economic assessment of environmental benefits deriving from activities concerning biodiversity (Christie et al., 2006;Ingraham and Foster, 2008;Loomis and White, 1996;Loureiro and Ojea, 2008;Richardson and Loomis, 2009 Alternatively, whenever a collection of primary data is not possible, the Benefit Transfer (BT) technique is used. It consists in monetary estimation of ecosystem services by utilizing information included in the literature about economic assessments endeavoured in similar settings (Liu et al., 2011;Bateman et al., 2011;Colombo et al., 2007;Shrestha et al., 2007). ...
In the process of improving quantitative evidence about the economic, social and environmental benefits induced by the Adaptation for Smallholder Agriculture Programme (ASAP), this study proposes a technical and empirical review aimed at quantifying the socio-economic and environmental benefits attributable to these ASAP-supported investments. In particular, the team investigated a sample of 32 approved projects since 2010, which included ASAP components. Results are integrated in the light of data gaps emerged from the original database, especially regarding the assessment of environmental benefits.
ASAP financing guarantees an average return of $1.77 per dollar invested. Supporting evidences came also from the analysis of the Economic Internal Rates of Return (EIRR), which reveals that mean EIRR in each of the IFAD regions ranges between 15% and 35%. The analysis also reveals that climate change adaptation strategies contribute to direct beneficiaries’ local wealth growth by 24%, with a net yearly contribution to annual income equal to 1.2%. ASAP alone – once environmental benefits are accounted for – would provide a 5 to 6% of the local GDP total value over a 20 years’ time period, being responsible for 0.25%-0.30% of local value added generation per year. Similarly, ASAP contribution to national GDP reaches up to 0.72% of its value over a 20 years’ timeframe (0.04% of the GDP annually). Expected outcomes vis-à-vis pre-identified risks and climate variability measured running a Monte Carlo simulations are proved to remain positive in most of the countries, with few exceptions were climate variability has bigger effect on final results.
The conclusive part of this study suggests an extension in the scope of the analysis through minor investments in primary data collection to validate and consolidate technical and empirical reviews.
... to ecosystem services include Zhongmin, Guodong, Zhiqiang, Zhiyong, and Loomis (2003); Jin, Wang, and Liu (2008); and Loureiro and Ojea (2008). More specifically, applications to PES include Ballestero and Rodrı´guez (2008); Ortega-Pacheco et al. (2009);and Moreno-Sanchez, Maldonado, Wunder, and Borda-Almanza (2012). ...
The adoption of good practices for the economic valuation of environmental services (ES) has strong implications in the evaluation and design of a Payment for Environmental Services program. People’s willingness to pay for an ES is useful to evaluate whether money collected from users will be enough to cover both the providers’ opportunity costs and other costs generated by the institutional arrangements required for implementation. In this article, we use a numerical certainty scale to adjust answers to a valuation question aiming to correct for hypothetical bias associated with stated preference methods. Following this approach, the mean willingness to pay decreases by approximately 70%. Values that are more conservative could assure greater political and social support for the program because more ES users would want to participate in the program; simultaneously, however, it might suggest that the project is not completely funded.
... Sumarga et al. 2015). Note that the widely applied contingent valuation method (Loureiro and Ojea 2008;Jacobsen et al. 2012) is incompatible with ecosystem accounting principles. Note that costs of land (and land concessions) are not included in the resource rent and the monetary assessment is net of taxes and subsidies. ...
Deforestation and oil palm expansion in Central Kalimantan province are among the highest in Indonesia. This study examines the physical and monetary impacts of oil palm expansion in Central Kalimantan up to 2025 under three policy scenarios. Our modelling approach combines a spatial logistic regression model with a set of rules governing land use change as a function of the policy scenario. Our physical and monetary analyses include palm oil expansion and five other ecosystem services: timber, rattan, paddy rice, carbon sequestration, and orangutan habitat (the last service is analysed in physical units only). In monetary terms, our analysis comprises the contribution of land and ecosystems to economic production, as measured according to the valuation approach of the System of National Accounts. We focus our analysis on government-owned land which covers around 97 % of the province, where the main policy issues are. We show that, in the business-as-usual scenario, the societal costs of carbon emissions and the loss of other ecosystem services far exceed the benefits from increased oil palm production. This is, in particular, related to the conversion of peatlands. We also show that, for Central Kalimantan, the moratorium scenario, which is modelled based on the moratorium currently in place in Indonesia, generates important economic benefits compared to the business-as-usual scenario. In the moratorium scenario, however, there is still conversion of forest to plantation and associated loss of ecosystem services. We developed an alternative, sustainable production scenario based on an ecosystem services approach and show that this policy scenario leads to higher net social benefits including some more space for oil palm expansion.
Electronic supplementary material
The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s10113-015-0815-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
... The presence of a much larger Spotted Owl population in the United States may lower welfare estimates for protection of the BC Spotted Owl population. However, Loureiro and Ojea (2008) found no difference between WTP estimates for protecting a local Spanish bird species from extirpation even when a portion of the respondents were reminded that other Northern European colonies of this bird are stable. Although it is unclear if this result is due to the embedding effect, this study does highlight the potential for local residents to value the extirpation of a local species at risk. ...
... Hanley et al. (2003) 5 report no WTP for goose population increases for the general public, and even a negative WTP for large increases for local residents, which may indicate that these residents consider large goose populations a nuisance. In a CV study, Loureiro and Ojea (2008) find almost identical WTP for different population increases of the guillemot, except when they explain that it is common elsewhere; then WTP decreases with increasing population levels. Do and 10 Bennett (2008) find a positive WTP for increasing populations of a crane species, but do not report for different population levels. ...
Biodiversity valuation studies often address the willingness to pay (WTP) for species survival. Many policy initiatives, however, target more generally the population levels of wildlife. This study investigated the empirical question of WTP for enhancing species populations also beyond the survival level. Respondents’ WTP for increases in population levels of endangered species as well as of general wildlife in three habitats were evaluated in a choice experiment, by trading off against income tax and restrictions in recreational access. Any person may have several motives for deriving value from enhanced wildlife populations, and variation in values were analysed in a Latent Class model. We document considerable discrete variations in WTP and respondents fall into several distinct groups. The first group express a significant WTP for saving endangered species only and has no positive WTP for higher population levels, indicating that existence values dominate their WTP. The second group put emphasis on wildlife, but with equal weight attached to moderate and high increases in population for ‘Endangered’ as well as ‘General’ wildlife. Thus, they appear insensitive to scope. The pattern suggests that WTP may be affected by warm glow or deontological motivations. The third group reveal significant WTP, but for at least one of the wildlife attributes they prefer moderate increases over high. This could be due to moral motivations or reflect provision cost concerns. Our findings point to the caution needed when using results from studies focusing on species survival in valuing broader initiatives.
... Some researchers have found that various species are 'highly sought after and preferred by visitors, and that visitors are usually willing to pay greater amounts of money to see these' [23] than other species. Yet despite the fact that many researchers around the world [24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35] have estimated the use and/or non-use 'value' of different species, most studies have been undertaken in different parts of the United States. A selection of some of those studies (differentiated according to whether the researcher was estimating non-consumptive use values or non-use values) is presented in Table 1. ...
This paper uses the Kristrom (logit) spike model to analyse contingent valuation (payment card) data from a study of 2180 domestic and international visitors taking reef trips to the Northern section of the Great Barrier Reef. It investigates: (a) their willingness to pay for a “100% guaranteed sighting” of several different marine species; and (b) the sensitivity of final estimates to various methodological issues. It finds that final estimates are particularly sensitive to questionnaire design, but that the ranking of species (from most to least ‘valued’) is robust across a range of methodological specifications. The most valued groups of species were (in order): whales and dolphins; sharks and rays; ‘variety’; marine turtles; and finally large fish. Evidently, whale watching is not the only potentially lucrative source of tourism revenue; other marine species may be similarly appealing. These potential revenues need to be considered when making decisions about whether or not to conserve marine species
... They improved the method by testing the sensitivity of willingness-to-pay estimates, a measure of economic value, to different specifications of the probit and logit models. Subsequent research on issues such as hypothetical bias (the potential bias introduced by not compelling an actual payment) (Berrens et al. 2002;Murphy et al. 2005;Johnston 2006), scope and embedding effects (the potential for respondents' preferences to be insensitive to the magnitude of the change described in the simulated market) (Bateman et al. 2004;Heberlein et al. 2005;Lew & Wallmo 2010), elicitation formats (the specific type of question used to elicit willingness to pay or willingness to accept) (Brown et al. 1996;Champ et al. 1997), and the effect of substitutes (the effect that other similar goods may have on the survey respondents' willingness to pay or willingness to accept) (Whitehead & Blomquist 1999;Loureiro & Ojea 2008;Ojea & Loureiro 2009) has led to improved survey protocols and consequently enhanced credibility of value estimates derived from contingent valuation and other stated-preference methods. ...
Nonmarket valuation research has produced economic value estimates for a variety of threatened, endangered, and rare species around the world. Although over 40 value estimates exist, it is often difficult to compare values from different studies due to variations in study design, implementation, and modeling specifications. We conducted a stated-preference choice experiment to estimate the value of recovering or downlisting 8 threatened and endangered marine species in the United States: loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta), leatherback sea turtle (Dermochelys coriacea), North Atlantic right whale (Eubalaena glacialis), North Pacific right whale (Eubalaena japonica), upper Willamette River Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha), Puget Sound Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha), Hawaiian monk seals (Monachus schauinslandi), and smalltooth sawfish (Pristis pectinata). In May 2009, we surveyed a random sample of U.S. households. We collected data from 8476 households and estimated willingness to pay for recovering and downlisting the 8 species from these data. Respondents were willing to pay for recovering and downlisting threatened and endangered marine taxa. Willingness-to-pay values ranged from $40/household for recovering Puget Sound Chinook salmon to $73/household for recovering the North Pacific right whale. Statistical comparisons among willingness-to-pay values suggest that some taxa are more economically valuable than others, which suggests that the U.S. public's willingness to pay for recovery may vary by species.
... External (to the choice set) substitution analyses are few, but e.g. Loureiro and Ojea (2008) found no substitution effect in a CE where one split sample, valuing the preservation of a specific bird population, was told that the bird was common in other countries. ...
This paper addresses the question, whether attribute values derived from a CE study of one nature restoration and preservation project depend on the overall scale of nature preservation activities in which it is embedded. A split-sample CE study was undertaken in which a particular nature preservation project was evaluated in three plausible and strictly different embedding contexts. Respondents' attention was drawn to a varying number of forthcoming substitute preservation projects to be implemented prior to the one in question. Results show that while WTP for the project in focus is sensitive to the presentation of substitute projects as such, there does not seem to be any clear and unidirectional relationship between WTP and the number of substitute projects. Furthermore, effects vary across the project's attributes.
Southern African countries are increasingly dependent on natural beauty and wildlife for tourism. Conservation is essential for sustainable tourism, and is expensive, especially for threatened and endangered species. The current price of a species only takes into account its current usefulness, often leading to an underestimation of the value of wildlife. This paper contributes to debates on the value of endangered species by estimating current use and non-use values for the rhino, a species under extreme threat. Internationally, literature that values scarce and endangered species uses willingness-to-pay (WTP) to derive a value of the species. This paper uses WTP to determine the non-consumptive use value of the rhino based on three surveys, n = 1291, conducted in South Africa's Kruger National Park (KNP) and compare it to consumptive use values. Non-use and inter-temporal values are also estimated to provide a comprehensive valuation of the rhino. Non-consumptive use values per rhino in KNP are shown to exceed consumptive use values by a minimum of 50%. The threat of extinction is shown to be linked to institutional, market and policy failures. Policy implications include raising poaching fines, raising wildlife value awareness and incentivising the community benefits of wildlife conservation.
In this chapter, the underpinning theory of the economic valuation study will be explained. The goal of this chapter is twofold: first, I want to give an overview of economic valuation as far as it is relevant for the evaluation of the YFPs. Secondly, I will prepare the methodological approach employed in this study.
The structure of the chapter is as follows: I begin by introducing the importance of economic valuation of environmental assets in Sect. 3.1. In Sect. 3.2, I explain why to make an economic valuation of the YFP protection. The reasons are that the protection of YFPs is a public good and is not completely entitled with property rights and that the protection of YFPs produces a number of positive externalities that fail to be internalized. Consequently, market failure happens in porpoise protection. In Sect. 3.3, I describe the total economic value (TEV) of the porpoise protection in the Yangtze River system, including the use values and non-use values. In the following Sect. 3.4, I compare various valuation methods and make the choice of Contingent valuation method (CVM), and in Sect. 3.5, I review the theoretical basis of the CV study. Welfare measures, willingness to pay (WTP) and willingness to accept (WTA) are important theoretical bases for the CV study. Finally in Sect. 3.6, I summarize the challenges faced by the CV and clarify that I will concentrate on addressing the problem of distance decay.
In this paper, we test whether the time it takes for a submitted paper to be accepted by the editor(s) is sensitive to the stated preference method used. Two methods are considered: the Contingent Valuation (CV) and the Choice Experiments (CE). A meta-analysis based on a sample of 129 papers published in Resource and Energy Economics. Ecological Economics and Environmental and Resource Economics between 2005 and 2011 is conducted. The dependent variable in the ordinary least squares regression model is the number of days between the submission of the paper and the acceptance of the paper, referred to as Time for Publication Acceptance, or TPA, The main results are that TPA is lower for CE papers than CV papers, especially for those that aim at improving the method which can be interpreted as a higher academic demand in the CE field. However, a convergence is observed over the years.
Insensitivity to scope is an issue of much debate in contingent valuation (CV) even today. Although the literature about insensitivity to scope is abundant, the reasons for it are not yet well known. Through a meta-analysis of CV studies of biodiversity, the treatment of the different possible measures of the quantity of the good is explored in relation to scope sensitivity. Overall, the findings suggest that CV results are sensitive to the amount of the good being valued, although the result depends on how the environmental change is measured. Results support the use of absolute sizes when conducting CV studies.
Non-market valuation research has produced value estimates for over forty threatened and endangered (T&E) species, including mammals, fish, birds, and crustaceans. Increasingly, Stated Preference Choice Experiments (SPCE) are utilized for valuation, as the format offers flexibility for policy analysis and may reduce certain types of response biases relative to the more traditional Contingent Valuation method. Additionally, SPCE formats can allow respondents to make trade-offs among multiple species, providing information on the distinctiveness of preferences for different T&E species. In this paper we present results of an SPCE involving three U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA)-listed species: the Puget Sound Chinook salmon, the Hawaiian monk seal, and the smalltooth sawfish. We estimate willingness-to-pay (WTP) values for improving each species' ESA listing status and statistically compare these values between the three species using a method of convolutions approach. Our results suggest that respondents have distinct preferences for the three species, and that WTP estimates differ depending on the species and the level of improvement to their ESA status. Our results should be of interest to researchers and policy-makers, as we provide value estimates for three species that have limited, if any, estimates available in the economics literature, as well as new information about the way respondents make trade-offs among three taxonomically different species.
Park officials at Carara National Park, Costa Rica, face considerable challenges. They believe poaching has become a significant threat to the park’s biodiversity and that their enforcement measures, largely due to limited funds, are inadequate. Through family-level interviews in six communities surrounding Carara National Park, this study aims to understand the dynamics of poaching by identifying animals at risk of poaching and identifying communities to target future enforcement measures. Interviews inquired about interactions with wildlife, perceived populations of wildlife, sale of wildlife, opinions towards hunting, and observed hunting activities. Summary statistics, CART modeling and probit regressions are used to analyze the data. Results indicate hunting is not prevalent in terms of the number of families that hunt. However, these families can still have significant impacts on wildlife populations with poaching occurring for both subsistence and market-oriented reasons. Two potential community sets are identified as areas to target enforcement. Based on the number of reported families engaging in hunting, enforcement should be targeted in Bijagual and Tárcoles. However, exploring truthfulness through CART and probit regression analysis indicates enforcement should be targeted in El Sur and La Hacienda. Ultimately, future enforcement measures will be determined by Carara officials. Although potential target communities are identified and management practices such as ecotourism and community-based management are potentially viable avenues for reducing poaching, the park faces considerable challenges for enforcement due to its limited financial capabilities.
Kotchen and Reiling (hereafter KR) con-duct a replication of the Loomis, Gonzalez-Caban, and Gregory (1994) test of the NOAA panel's (Arrow et al. 1993) recom-mendation that reminders of substitutes and budget constraints be included in contingent markets. In an earlier comment on Loomis et al. (Whitehead and Blomquist 1995) we find that information about related goods can lead to substitution and complementary effects on willingness to pay values for wetland re-sources. We argue that information about re-lated environmental goods (substitutes or complements) is needed in contingent valua-tion research, especially for little known nat-ural resources. KR find that the information about substitutes and budget constraints has no effect on mean willingness to pay, but the information improves the efficiency of will-ingness to pay estimation.' COMMENTS ABOUT KR REGRESSION ANALYSIS The KR regression analysis contains two results, which lead us to question their con-clusions. The model for the peregrine falcon with no reminder has an insignificant bid co-efficient. It does not pass the simplest theo-retical validity test and is therefore of limited use for any willingness to pay comparisons. KR suggest that there is omitted variable bias in this model. An alternative interpretation is that the environmental attitude variable is confounding the bid variable. Based on eco-nomic theory, the coefficient on the bid amount must be significant, with people re-sponding to price, before useful willingness-to-pay comparisons across surveys can be made. Insignificance of the bid variable indi-cates that the yes/no answers are more indic-ative of a symbolic response to environmen-talism than a contingent choice. If there is no theory to put the attitude variable in the model and it confounds theoretically impor-tant variables, then its inclusion in the final specification is questionable. If the standard errors in the sturgeon re-minder regression are correct, the prior knowledge coefficient is insignificant in both the sturgeon and peregrine regressions. If this is the case, prior knowledge matters for the group that does not get the reminder, but prior knowledge does not matter for the re-minder group. For the peregrine falcon and sturgeon scenarios, those who had prior in-formation are 2.6 and 3 times more likely to respond yes than those who had no informa-tion. This suggests that very few respondents who had no prior information responded yes. The budget and substitute reminder informa-tion may be acting as information about the quantity and quality of endangered species protection in the United States, not necessar-ily as information about related goods. In ef-fect, respondents may interpret the reminder information as an indicator of the scope of the endangered species problem.
How to conduct a proper contingent valuation study. Reccomendations
A test is performed of the recommendation by the NOAA panel on contingent valuation that respondents be reminded about other substitute resources and their budget constraint prior to answering the willingness-to-pay (WTP) question. The context for this experiment is a CVM study of the benefits from reducing fire hazards to old-growth forests in Oregon. The test was performed using two mail surveys that were otherwise identical except for the inclusion of reminder statements prior to the WTP question. The dichotomous choice logit equations were not statistically different between versions and the mean WTP results were identical.
This paper examines willingness to pay (WTP) for an endangered species across geographically nested samples using the Contingent Valuation Method (CVM). The three samples range from (1) the boroughs that contain critical habitat for the Steller sea lion to (2) the state that contains these boroughs to and (3) the entire United States. Depending on the assumptions of the model, WTP varies tremendously from sample to sample. WTP for the United States is the highest and it is the lowest for the boroughs. The null hypotheses that mean WTP estimates are greater then zero were rejected for the boroughs and the state but were not rejected for the United States based on the 95% confidence intervals.
This paper investigates the impact of interviewer effects on willingness to pay (WTP) estimates. Face-to-face surveys were conducted with two interviewers. Both interviewers used a transcript and conducted the survey at the same location and at the same time. We found that responses to the WTP questions differ across eco-labeled products and by interviewer. This interviewer effect is particularly relevant when we analyze the impact on WTP estimates for eco-labeled products grown in countries associated with the origin of one of the interviewers.
The contingent valuation method is often used for valuing environmental goods which have nonuse as well as direct-use values. However, it is often not clear how respondents to a contingent valuation survey allocate values when asked for willingness-to-pay amounts. In this paper, we investigate use and nonuse values for the Mediterranean monk seal ( Monachus monachus ), an endangered species, by using a survey conducted in Mytilene, on the island of Lesvos, Greece. Using factor analysis of the survey we found five factors which described respondents' attitudes towards conserving the monk seal, which were labelled protection, moral responsibility, ambivalence, limited resources, and tourist potential. Multilevel modelling was then used to compare willingness-to-pay responses with attitudinal and sociodemographic variables. The results suggest that willingness to pay for use, option, and existence values are predicted by different attitudinal variables.
This paper explores the way in which the stated willingness to pay for the conservation of Asian elephants in Sri Lanka varies with hypothetical variations in their abundance. To do that, it relies on results from a sample of residents of Colombo. The willingness to pay function is found to be unusual. It increases at an increasing rate for hypothetical reductions in the elephant population compared to its current level (a level that makes the Asian elephant endangered) and also increases at a decreasing rate for increases in this population from its current level. Rational explanations are given for this relationship. The relationship is, however, at odds with relationships suggested in some of the literature for total economic value as a function of the abundance of a wildlife species. It is suggested that willingness to pay for conservation of a species rationally includes a strategic element and may not always measure the total economic value of a species. Nevertheless, willingness to pay is still policy relevant in such cases.
Most contingent valuation studies focus on total willingness to pay (WTP) as a measure of welfare change. For policy involving species preservation, however, it is important to distinguish between the benefits of preventing a species from going extinct and the benefits of preserving numbers above the minimum viable population (MVP) level. Once MVP is exceeded, marginal WTP becomes relevant. These propositions are illustrated for the case of one charismatic species whose management is much debated, minke whales in the Northeast Atlantic Ocean. It is shown that, for a given estimate of total preservation value, strict conservation and extinction can both be optimal. This finding highlights the importance of collecting marginal values in contingent valuation surveys. Copyright Kluwer Academic Publishers 1999
Since the work of Bishop and Heberlein, a number of contingent valuation experiments have appeared involving discrete responses
which are analyzed by logit or similar techniques. This paper addresses the issues of how the logit models should be formulated
to be consistent with the hypothesis of utility maximization and how measures of compensating and equivalent surplus should
be derived from the fitted models. Two distinct types of welfare measures are introduced and then estimated from Bishop and
Heberlein's data.
There is increasing recognition that statistical estimates of the average willingness to pay for environmental programs may
be biased by the failure of respondents, or of the statistical methodology, to consider the effect of substitute programs
and goods. We design and implement a CVM survey that estimates the impact of substitution effects on the willingness to pay
for an environmental program. We find a statistically significant impact and suggest that the set of potential substitutes
is very large.
One of the first lessons in any economics course is that prices of substitute commodities matter. For example, the magnitude of estimated values for a specific recreation area may be substantially affected by the availability of substitute sites. This basic lesson of economics is often overlooked in the design of contingent‐valuation questions. Assumptions regarding the prices of substitutes become implicit in designing surveys and are rarely made explicit to survey respondents. In this article, hypotheses are formulated about hunter responses to contingent valuation questions under explicit and implicit assumptions regarding prices of substitute hunting opportunities. The hypotheses are tested using data from a statewide survey of Maine hunters. The results indicate that it may not be necessary to specify assumptions that prices of substitutes remain unchanged. In contrast, respondents did not change their statements of value when told that the prices of substitutes had doubled.
The purpose of this paper is to report results from a set of experiments that provide data to test the NOAA [13] Panel recommendation that subjects be reminded of budgetary substitutes when providing values. The results suggest that simply reminding subjects of alternative environmental goods does not affect the distribution of values for a specific good. Such values are affected, however, whenever subjects simultaneously value alternative goods.
In this paper we estimate the willingness topay for a wolf management plan and a wolfdamage plan in Minnesota using the contingentvaluation method. The theoretical definition ofwillingness to pay for wolf protection iscomposed of use and non-use values. Weincorporate a don't know response option in thedichotomous choice valuation questions. A largenumber of respondents answered don't know. Themultinomial logit model is used todifferentiate between don't know and noresponses. Non-use motives are importantfactors that explain willingness to pay. We usethese benefit estimates in combination with twoalternative cost estimates to consider theefficiency of the wolf management and damageplans. Both plans have estimated benefitsgreater than costs. Copyright Kluwer Academic Publishers 2003
The focus of this paper is on methods of assessing the value peopleplace on the conservation of species for use in policy making. Of principalinterest is the relatively new methodology of contingent valuation, whichis a method for asking people directly about their preferences. The paperpresents an application of the contingent valuation method to theconservation of an endangered species in the State of Victoria, Australia.The results emphasise the importance of careful survey design,implementation and analysis as well as the precise definition of theenvironmental good being valued. Consequently, the contingent valuationmethod does provide information relevant to decision making processesbased on monetary economic considerations. Thus, in orthodox economicterms it makes sense to conserve species – but there are other moral andethical grounds for conserving species as well. Copyright Kluwer Academic Publishers 2001
This study employs a multi-program contingent valuation (CVM) design tosimultaneously assess the value of three ecosystem conservation programsin Alberta, Canada. The design is different from most other CVM designsand has several different features including the natural incorporation ofdirect reminders of substitute/complementary programs and budgetconstraints. In contrast to the findings of other studies, two of the environmentalprograms appear to be complements and other combinations of the programssuggest an absence of substitution effects. The multi-program model ismore informative and robust in terms of theoretical validity and expectedrelationships with demographic and recreational characteristics of therespondents. Copyright Kluwer Academic Publishers 2000
A theoretical framework for understanding substitution and complementary effects between environmental programs is derived. A multiple program valuation function is specified and its structure analyzed. A maximum likelihood estimator is derived to estimate the parameters of the valuation function using referendum-type, contingent valuation data. The empirical analysis shows that the conventional benefit aggregation approach of independent valuation and summation overstates the benefits of two- and three-program policies by an average of 24 and 54%, respectively.
This study introduces a prototype model for evaluating policies to abate agricultural nutrients in the Baltic Sea from a Finnish national point of view. The stochastic simulation model integrates nutrient dynamics of nitrogen and phosphorus in the sea basins adjoining the Finnish coast, nutrient loads from land and other sources, benefits from nutrient abatement (in the form of recreation and other ecosystem services) and the costs of agricultural abatement activities. The aim of this study is to present the overall structure of the model and to demonstrate its potential using preliminary parameters. The model is made flexible for further improvements in all of its ecological and economic components. Results of a sensitivity analysis suggest that investments in reducing the nutrient runoff from arable land in Finland would become profitable only if Finland’s neighbors in the northern Baltic committed themselves to similar reductions. Environmental investments for improving water quality yield the highest returns for the Bothnian Bay and the Gulf of Finland, and smaller returns for the Bothnian Sea. In the Bothnian Bay, the abatement activities become profitable because the riverine loads from Finland represent a high proportion of the total nutrient loads. In the Gulf of Finland, this proportion is low, but the size of the coastal population benefiting from improved water quality is high.
Bases para la conservación de la población de arao (Uria aalge) en Galicia
- J Rodríguez
- P Furelos Coord
Rodríguez, J., Furelos coord, P., (2004), Bases para la conservación de la población de arao (Uria aalge) en Galicia. SEAS. Servicios medioambientales. Project funded by Fundación Arao. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 1995. Notice of availability, final Apex Houston oil spill restoration plan. Federal Register 60 (81), 20739–20749.
Padrón Municipal. Galician Institute of Statistics
IGE, 2004. Padrón Municipal. Galician Institute of Statistics. http://
ige.xunta.es.
Notice of availability, final Apex Houston oil spill restoration plan
- U S Fish
- Wildlife Service
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 1995. Notice of availability, final
Apex Houston oil spill restoration plan. Federal Register 60 (81),
20739–20749.
Notice of availability, final Apex Houston oil spill restoration plan
- U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Do reminders of substitutes and budget constraints influence contingent valuation estimates?
- Whitehead
Do reminders of substitutes and budget constraints influence contingent valuation estimates?
- Kotchen