Choice modelling in the development of natural resource management strategies in NSW

Protecting environmental services generates social benefits. At the same time, private landholders supplying these benefits may face some costs. To provide these services efficiently, policy makers need information about community values for the environment as well as landholders’ costs. This study explores how choice modelling (a non-market valuation technique) is used to estimate comment values. These include use and non-use values for increasing environmental quality in NSW catchments. Non-market valuation techniques for estimating environmental values are reviewed. This is followed by a discussion of methodological aspects of the choice modelling technique and its potential as a regional planning tool for Catchment Management Authorities (CMA’s)Nonmarket valuation, choice modelling, trade-offs, bio-physical modelling, Environmental Economics and Policy, Land Economics/Use,

Environmental economics and valuation: towards a practical investment framework for Catchment Management Authorities in New South Wales

The Catchment Management Authorities in New South Wales have programs that are collectively investing $436 million over four years to achieve catchment-wide natural resource/environmental improvements. In this paper, we consider the question of how to best allocate these resources so as to increase the well-being of the public within catchments and the state. We consider the current approaches used by CMAs and make a case for Benefit-Cost Analysis as an alternative means of assessing ex ante questions of priority setting at the catchment level and for project appraisal. A major issue for BCA is the estimation of potential benefits from project investments, particularly the estimation of values that catchment communities and those living outside the catchments place on the non-use benefits associated with environmental improvements. We discuss alternative means of eliciting such values and propose the stated-preference method of Choice Modelling as a means of overcoming this Benefit-Cost Analysis shortcoming, because it incorporates advances in non-market valuation.environmental, economics, choice modelling, non-use values, investment framework, Environmental Economics and Policy,

Evaluating the welfare effects of biodiversity on private lands: A choice modelling application

Biodiversity loss is a global problem, especially in reference to private lands. In response, we investigated whether private land biodiversity may be attained by developing incentives which include funding landholders through the provision of native trees to enhance biodiversity on their own properties. Using choice modelling, we tested this hypothesis. A typical respondent was found to be better off, in terms of welfare, if there would be a biodiversity enhancing scheme in their locality. We also found that respondents in the upper northern regions of New Zealand were relatively more receptive in supporting biodiversity enhancement programmes on their properties, compared to those residing in the southern regions of the country

Testing Choice Experiment for Benefit Transfer

Benefit transfer is a cost-effective method for estimating the value of environmental goods that relies on information obtained in previous studies. The multi-attribute approach of choice experiment should provide advantages in terms of benefit transfer allowing differences in environmental improvements between sites as well as differences in socio-economic and attitude characteristics between respondent populations. Furthermore, choice experiment allows the estimation of implicit prices and the welfare change for many scenarios. If the transferability of these values is confirmed, that would be good news for benefit transfer practitioners. This paper investigates the capability of choice experiment method to be used in environmental benefit transfer.choice experiment, benefit transfer, soil erosion, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, Q30,

Location differences in communities’ preferences for environmental improvements in selected NSW catchments: A Choice Modelling approach

To elicit household willingness to pay (WTP) for improvements in environmental quality in three NSW catchments (Lachlan, Namoi and Hawkesbury-Nepean), a choice modelling (CM) study was conducted. This report presents results of research designed to investigate variations in WTP across different communities. The communities included local residents, distant/urban and distant/rural residents. Nine split samples were established to test for ‘location effects’. The analysis involved both conditional logit and random-parameters logit models. Natural resource management (NRM), including Catchment Management Authorities (CMAs), can use the non-market values obtained from this study to guide their investment decisions.Choice modelling, location effects, non-market valuation, catchment planning, environment, Environmental Economics and Policy, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods,

Valuing the Protection of Victorian Forests: Murray River Red Gums, and East Gippsland

The Victorian Environmental Assessment Council, in developing recommendations for the Victorian Government on the future management of public lands forests along he Murray River, and in East Gippsland, commissioned an analysis of environmental protections values. This paper reports the results of a choice modeling application that provides that analysis. Values for improved environmental conditions, as described by attributes relating to the forest composition, its wildlife characteristics and recreational opportunities, were estimated for sub-samples of households in Melbourne and in various regions around Victoria. The usefulness of the results as inputs to benefit cost analyses of policy alternatives is assessed.forests, Victoria, choice modeling, benefit cost analysis, Environmental Economics and Policy,

Valuation of functions of the Wadden Area

The rationale of this position paper is to explore ways to employ valuation methods to assess the impacts of alternative policy decisions on the functions of the Wadden Area. Based on this rationale, this paper aims to bring an ecological-economic perspective on the benefits of the Wadden Area. It highlights key issues involved in the notion and application of monetary valuation methods for valuing the (ecological) functions of the area. It also pays attention to the development of policy handles on the basis of the outcome of the valuation of ecological functions. Particularly, the paper discuss Payment for Environmental Services (PES), which aims at preservation and protection by purchasing conservation. The use of a valuation instrument within a Payment for Environmental Services Scheme is new. Valuation is of course an established technique within a Cost-Benefit framework. However, Payment for Environmental Services is an innovative way of designing policy instruments in the collaboration between ecologists and economist

The Value of Habitat and Agriculture

The report summarises the results of a non-market valuation study of Habitat and Agriculture in the Upper South East (Upper SE) of South Australia. A non-market valuation technique known as choice modelling was used to elicit values in the form of willingness to pay from people in the Upper SE, Adelaide and the rest of the State. The regional and state-wide preferences for the habitat improvement provide one more piece of information relating to the difficult issues around the configuration of the cleared and uncleared landscape in the Upper South East of South Australia.Australia;habitat;agriculture;land