Estimating the economic value of improvements in river ecology using choice experiments: an application to the water framework directive

The Water Framework Directive is a major regulatory reform of water resources management within the European Union. Integrated catchment management plans must be prepared for all river basins, in order to achieve 'good ecological status' in all EU waters. Ecological status is a broader measure of water quality than the chemical and biological measures that were previously dominant. The Directive calls for a consideration of the economic costs and benefits of improvements to ecological status. In this paper, we use the choice experiment method to estimate the value of improvements in three components of ecological status. Given the high resource cost of valuation studies, benefits transfer methods will be needed in implementing the Directive. We thus also test the ability of choice experiments for benefits transfer across two very similar rivers in the UK.     

Using discrete choice experiments to value preferences for air quality improvement: the case of curbing haze in urban China

China's top legislature amended a law that “sets environmental protection as the country's basic policy”, which planned to force regulators to make improvements in air quality. Limited studies have attempted to estimate separate values for attributes of air quality improvements from the perspective of how residents value the reduction of haze and health benefits. We apply a discrete choice experiment to estimate the economic benefits involved in these changes. The analysis demonstrates that residents from urban areas are positively willing to pay for air quality improvement. We further employ a mixed logit model and a latent class model to investigate potential heterogeneity in preferences. The preference heterogeneity is significantly related to individuals' exposure to health risks relating to air quality, which is represented by whether the residence location of the respondent is covered by haze/smog on the interview day.     

Farmers' involvement in landscape activities: an analysis of the relationship between farm location, farm characteristics and landscape changes in two study areas in Jutland, Denmark

Farmers are important agents in rural landscape management as they modify landscape elements to suit their needs. The purpose of this study is to investigate if patterns of landscape activities undertaken by farmers are related to certain farm characteristics and if landscape activities vary from one location to another. With this purpose, we investigated the differences between the level of farmers' involvement in landscape activities in two study areas in central Jutland, Denmark. Particular attention was given to the analysis of the type and extent of landscape activities and their relationship with farm characteristics. In both study areas, landscape activities leading to a more extensive type of land use predominate. However, a multivariate analysis implemented on the set of landscape activity data reveals significant differences between the two study areas. Hedgerow planting and removal is more common in S?nder Omme, while pond digging and cultivation of permanent grass lands are characteristic activities in Gadbjerg-Givskud. Moreover, the proportion of farmers involved and the area affected by different landscape activities is larger in S?nder Omme than in Gadbjerg-Givskud. The farms of the two areas are different in terms of production type, size and socio-economic characteristics. These characteristics represent significant relationships with landscape activities. However, they are not sufficient to explain the differences between landscape activities undertaken in the two areas. The differences are caused by unique cultural and biophysical environment, which influence and modify the relationship between farm characteristics and landscape activities in a distinct manner for each study area.