The non-economic motives behind the willingness to pay for biodiversity conservation

Martín‐López, Berta; Montes, Carlos; Benayas, Javier

doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2007.06.005

Cited by 378 publications

(328 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…Finally, we note that although half of the respondents stated that they were not willing to pay for the conservation of AS breed, this may not necessarily reflect a lack of interest in conserving the breed rather than a perception of responsibilities. Martín-Lopez et al (2007) in a wildlife conservation study found that many respondents stated that they considered that the conservation of wildlife species is the duty of governments and not of private individuals. The extent to which policies related to public spending and government interventionism may actually influence people's perception of responsibility and therefore private WTP for the conservation of local breeds is thus a future research topic of interest, since it could have a significant influence on the design of stated preference approaches.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Determination of non-market values to inform conservation strategies for the threatened Alistana–Sanabresa cattle breed

Martín-Collado

Díaz

Drucker

et al. 2014

Animal

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Livestock breed-related public good functions are often used to justify support for endangered breed conservation despite the fact that little is known about such non-market values. We show how stated preference techniques can be used to assess the nonmarket values that people place on livestock breeds. Through the application of a case study choice experiment survey in Zamora province, Spain, the total economic value (TEV) of the threatened Alistana-Sanabresa (AS) cattle breed was investigated. An analysis of the relative importance of the non-market components of its TEV and an assessment of the socio-economic variables that influence people's valuation of such components is used to inform conservation strategy design. Overall, the findings reveal that the AS breed had significant non-market values associated with it and that the value that respondents placed on each specific public good function also varied significantly. Functions related with indirect use cultural and existence values were much more highly valued than landscape maintenance values. These high cultural and existence values (totalling over 80% of TEV) suggest that an AS in situ conservation strategy will be required to secure such values. As part of such a strategy, incentive mechanisms will be needed to permit farmers to capture some of these public good values and thus be able to afford to maintain breed population numbers at socially desirable levels. One such mechanism could be related to the development of breed-related agritourism initiatives, with a view to enhancing private good values and providing an important addition to continued direct support. Where linked with cultural dimensions, niche product market development, including through improving AS breed-related product quality and brand recognition may also have a role to play as part of such an overall conservation and use strategy. We conclude that livestock breed conservation strategies with the highest potential to maximise societal welfare would be those that secure the breed-related functions that people value most, with appropriate in situ conservation interventions and strategies being identified accordingly.Keywords: Cattle, breed, choice modelling, non-market functions, total economic value ImplicationsLittle information exists regarding the total economic value (TEV) of livestock breeds, especially concerning their breedrelated public good functions. However, these functions are often used to justify support for endangered breed conservation. This paper illustrates how improved understanding of the relative importance of such values can help to inform conservation strategies by undertaking a case study exploration of the TEV of the Spanish Alistana-Sanabresa (AS) cattle breed. The cultural and existence values of this breed were highly valued, implying that AS conservation strategies focusing on these aspects would have higher public support and therefore be more likely to be successful.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Determination of non-market values to inform conservation strategies for the threatened Alistana–Sanabresa cattle breed

Martín-Collado

Díaz

Drucker

et al. 2014

Animal

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“…Public preferences for charismatic bird and mammal species [6,7] are reflected in greater willingness-to-pay for conservation focusing on these species [8]. Private funding for such species thus represents an additional pool of funds that is likely unavailable for use in objective cost-effectiveness approaches aimed at maximizing numbers of species conserved.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biodiversity gains from efficient use of private sponsorship for flagship species conservation

Bennett

Maloney²,

Possingham

2015

Proc. R. Soc. B.

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To address the global extinction crisis, both efficient use of existing conservation funding and new sources of funding are vital. Private sponsorship of charismatic ‘flagship’ species conservation represents an important source of new funding, but has been criticized as being inefficient. However, the ancillary benefits of privately sponsored flagship species conservation via actions benefiting other species have not been quantified, nor have the benefits of incorporating such sponsorship into objective prioritization protocols. Here, we use a comprehensive dataset of conservation actions for the 700 most threatened species in New Zealand to examine the potential biodiversity gains from national private flagship species sponsorship programmes. We find that private funding for flagship species can clearly result in additional species and phylogenetic diversity conserved, via conservation actions shared with other species. When private flagship species funding is incorporated into a prioritization protocol to preferentially sponsor shared actions, expected gains can be more than doubled. However, these gains are consistently smaller than expected gains in a hypothetical scenario where private funding could be optimally allocated among all threatened species. We recommend integrating private sponsorship of flagship species into objective prioritization protocols to sponsor efficient actions that maximize biodiversity gains, or wherever possible, encouraging private donations for broader biodiversity goals.

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“…By varying the amount individuals are asked to pay among individual respondents, a social value of the outcome is constructed based on how WTP varies across respondents (Loomis 1990). Several factors can affect the WTP for wildlife conservation including the species usefulness to humans, likeability of species by humans, questionnaire design, information level of respondents and level of economic damage created by the species (Tisdell et al 2007, Bateman et al 2002, Nunes and van den Bergh 2001, Brown et al 1994, Martin--Lopez et al 2007a, 2007b.…”

Section: Contingent Valuation Methodologymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Additionally, it is often viewed that public goods such as wildlife do not lend themselves to valuation in this manner and further, this type of valuation of public resources typically understates the true non--market value (Balmford et al 2002, Pearce andMoran 1994). In order to overcome some of these potentially serious issues, surveys must be written appropriately to reduce potential uncertainty and biases (Ekstrand and Loomis 1998, Martin--Lopez 2007a, 2007b. Surveys can be expensive to implement and in the case of a conservation program, determining the target audience may be difficult as well.…”

Section: Contingent Valuation Methodologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Assignment of measurable costs and benefits to wildlife conservation projects

et al. 2013

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Success of biodiversity conservation projects is determined by a suite of biological and economic factors. Donor and public understanding of the economic factors is becoming increasingly central to the longevity of funding for conservation efforts. Unlike typical economic evaluation, many costs and benefits related to conservation efforts are realized in diverse and non--monetary terms. We identify the types of benefits and costs that are assigned to biodiversity projects and examine a number of well--developed and some new techniques that economists use to convert benefits and costs into monetary values so that they may be compared in a common metric. Commonly costs are more readily identified than benefits, with financial project costs the most frequently reported and to a much lesser extent, opportunity and damage costs. Additionally, costs have been recognized as being largely spatially dependent while benefits have not received this same distinction. Opportunity costs have been largely absent from many conservation project analyses likely overstating the returns to project investment. Most current evaluation methodologies focus mainly on costs and rely primarily on cost--effectiveness analysis more commonly than cost--benefit analysis, resulting from the difficultly in measuring benefits. Movement toward the measurement of the benefits and costs of conservation efforts is urged throughout most of the literature. Improvements to the determination of conservation project returns can be made through the incorporation of spatial considerations of economic impacts which includes regional economic analysis.

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The non-economic motives behind the willingness to pay for biodiversity conservation

Cited by 378 publications

References 37 publications

Determination of non-market values to inform conservation strategies for the threatened Alistana–Sanabresa cattle breed

Determination of non-market values to inform conservation strategies for the threatened Alistana–Sanabresa cattle breed

Biodiversity gains from efficient use of private sponsorship for flagship species conservation

Assignment of measurable costs and benefits to wildlife conservation projects

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