Economic Valuation of the Non-use Attributes of a Wetland: A Case-study for Lake Kerkini

Abstract

Wetlands are an environmental feature which deliver a variety of market and non-market goods and services. Established environmental economic theory separates the value of these goods and services into direct-use values, indirect-use values and non-use values. Given appreciation of all three, measurements can be derived to demonstrate the amount of public money that it may be feasible to allocate to the sustainable management of wetlands. However, in many cases, non-use values are ignored and the total economic value of wetlands can be severely undervalued. As a result, inadequate resources are fed into their management and environmental degradation occurs due to inappropriate commercial exploitation of the natural resource. Lake Kerkini, in northern Greece, is one such wetland area threatened by undervaluation and overexploitation for commercial purposes, and a resource whose management would benefit from the realization of non-use values. This study therefore uses the contingent valuation method to place a value on the non-use attributes of Lake Kerkini. It also examines the relationship between the revealed non-use values and the distance people live from the lake, highlights the personal characteristics which appear important in determining total willingness to pay and breaks total non-use value down into its component parts to suggest the most important non-use elements. The paper concludes that sustainable management of the lake is justified and provides evidence that substantial public monies are potentially available to protect and enhance the environmental value of the resource.

Users and Non-users of Wetland Area; Willingness to Pay and Demand Elasticity

“…Several other studies also found positive relationship between these variables. For example, positive impact of income on WTP is witnessed in studies by Westerberg et al, 2010;Ghosh and Mondal, 2012;Birol et al, 2006;Othman et al, 2004;Birol et al, 2011;Hanley et al, 2006;Oglethorpe and Miliadou, 2000;Bliem et al, 2012 andNuva et al, 2011.The positive effect of membership in NGO on WTP also reported by Oglethorpe and Miliadou 2000;Pattison et al 2011. The negative interaction between number of people per household with the level 3 of natural scenery indicates that large families have lower WTP compare to small size families. Our results were similar to some other previous studies (Perez-Verdin et al, 2011;Hammitt et al, 2001;Pattison et al, 2011).…”

The Values of Natural and Constructed Wetlands: A Meta-Analysis

“…Passive values and the value of supporting various types of recreational activities were elicited by means of CVM. The value of supporting recreational activities ranged between 687 USD/ha/annum in Lac du Der, France (Scherrer 2003) and 2,048 USD/ha/annum in India (Verma 2001), while passive value estimates for Lake Kerkini in Greece were as high as 9,144 USD/ha/annum (Oglethorpe and Miliadou 2000).…”

Using economic values to evaluate management options for fish biodiversity in the Sikakap Strait, Indonesia

“…In order to select the best management option for achieving sustainable fish biodiversity management, some studies have been done by Ruitenbeek (1992), Stevens et al (1995), Oglethorpe and Miliadou (2000), and Rizal et al (2001). These studies used Cost-benefit analysis in comparing each management option.…”