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Environmental cost-benefit analysis has traditionally assumed that the value of benefits is sensitive to their timing and that outcomes are valued higher, the sooner in time they occur following implementation of a project or policy. Though, this assumption might have important implications especially for the social desirability of interventions aiming at counteracting time-persistent environmental problems, whose impacts occur in the long- and very long-term, respectively involving the present and future generations. This study analyzes the time sensitivity of social preferences for preservation policies of adaptation to climate change stresses. Results show that stated preferences are time insensitive, due to sustainability issues: individuals show insignificant differences in benefits they can experience within their own lifetimes compared to those which occur in the longer term, and which will instead be enjoyed by future generations. Whilst these results may be specific to the experimental design employed here, they do raise interesting questions regarding choices over time-persistent environmental problems, particularly in terms of the desirability of interventions which produce longer-term benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides a succinct review of the main developments in the literature on incentive-based policy mechanisms in the contexts of pollution control and biodiversity conservation, dating from the early beginnings of the science in the 1960s. A focal point in the review is on the design features of these policy mechanisms. Key developments in policy design were originally established in controlling externalities arising from pollution and have since been extended to policy design tailored towards biodiversity conservation. Special emphasis is given to the spatial characteristics of the environmental problems underlying both pollution control and biodiversity conservation. The paper concludes by drawing some lessons and setting out elements of a future research agenda in both policy domains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Payments for ecosystem service outputs have recently become a popular policy prescription for a range of agri-environmental schemes. The focus of this paper is on the choice of contract instruments to incentivise the provision of ecosystem service outputs from farms. The farmer is better informed than the regulator in terms of hidden information about costs and hidden-actions relating to effort. The results show that with perfect information, the regulator can contract equivalently on inputs or outputs. With hidden information, input-based contracts are more cost effective at reducing the informational rent related to adverse selection than output-based contracts. Mixed contracts are also cost-effective, especially where one input is not observable. Such contracts allow the regulator to target variables that are 'costly-to-fake' as opposed to those prone to moral hazard such as effort. Further results are given for fixed price contracts and input-based contracts with moral hazard. The model is extended to include a discussion of repeated contracting and the scope that exists for the regulator to benefit from information revealed by the initial choice of contract. The models are applied to a case study of contracting with farmers to protect high biodiversity native vegetation that also provides socially-valuable ecosystem services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stated preference studies tell respondents that policies create environmental changes with varying levels of uncertainty. However, respondents may include their own a priori assessments of uncertainty when making choices among policy options. Using a choice experiment eliciting respondents' preferences for conservation policies under climate change, we find that higher outcome uncertainty reduces utility. When accounting for endogeneity, we find that prior beliefs play a significant role in this cost of uncertainty. Thus, merely stating "objective" levels of outcome uncertainty will not necessarily solve the problem of people valuing something differently from originally intended: respondents' prior beliefs must be accounted for. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Payment for Ecosystem Service schemes have become widely discussed in the academic literature and in policy circles over the past 10 years, and indeed an increasing number of schemes have been put in place across the world. This paper has four objectives. First, to explain the idea of a Payment for Ecosystem Service scheme to those not working in this area. Second, to set out a formal model which shows the effects of incomplete information in terms of deviations from a first-best outcome, and which allows the relative merits of outcome- and actions-based schemes to be compared. Third, to explain why measuring the actual performance of any Payment for Ecosystem Service scheme is difficult. Finally, to set out what we see as the main research needs to inform policy development in the near future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers the use of a "combinatorial optimization" technique in the aggregation of environmental benefit values. Combinatorial optimization is used to statistically match population census data to a contingent valuation survey. The matched survey and census information is then used to produce regional and national total willingness-to-pay figures. These figures are then compared to figures derived using more standard approaches to calculating aggregate environment benefit values. The choice of aggregation approach is shown to have a major impact upon estimates of total benefits at a regional level, especially when the target population displays considerable heterogeneity across space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Marine Parks are established to protect an area of the sea zoned as a sanctuary for the protection of its marine eco-systems, especially coral reef and its associated fauna and flora, like sea grass bed, mangrove and the sea shore. In Malaysia, there are 6 marine parks to-date. The establishment of marine parks also attracts more tourists to the areas. For example, the number of visitors to Payar Marine Park increased tremendously from 3,668 visitors in 1990 to 133,775 visitors in 2002. However, too many tourists are thought by scientists to have damaged the coral reefs. This paper will estimate how much visitors are willing to pay to reduce damages to three marine parks in Malaysia; Payar, Redang and Tioman Marine Park. Willingness to pay estimates were obtained from the visitors using a double-bounded dichotomous choice version of the Contingent Valuation method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Contingent valuation has been used for over 30 years to reveal preferences for non-market environmental goods. Recent research has questioned the assumption that consumers posses fixed and well-defined preference orderings for such goods and suggests that individuals may need to form values for unfamiliar goods during the CV exercise itself. In this paper, we investigate how and why WTP is influenced by time to think, differing information levels and the opportunity to deliberate in a group setting for an unfamiliar good (red kite reintroduction) and a familiar good (green energy from wind power). For the Red Kite Project, we find that after several rounds of valuation final mean WTP is significantly different from initial mean WTP and that information, time to think and the opportunity to deliberate all influenced the valuation process. For the familiar good (wind power), mean WTP is not significantly different. Our overall conclusion is that whilst “one-shot” CV surveys may be appropriate for environmental goods that are familiar to participants (e.g. recreation benefits), they are not appropriate for less familiar goods (rare species) where the CV exercise should act as a ‘preference engine’ by giving participants time to think, information sufficient to their needs, and the opportunity to deliberate. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

We attempt a first combination of the participatory technique known as the "citizens' jury" with choice modelling, a stated-preference technique increasingly favored by environmental economists. Our application is conducted in the context of water quality improvements under the Water Framework Directive, the most significant reform in water legislation in the European Union for many years. We compare results with those of a conventional choice experiment. We find that the choice experiment format can be successfully implemented in a "jury" setting, and that moving from an individual to a collective choice setting produces a change in both values and preferences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers the role of economic valuation in tourism research and in the management of recreation resources, focussing on the newly designated Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park in Scotland. Emphasis is placed on discussion of a travel cost model and a contingent valuation model, both developed in order to value trips to the study area - Loch Lomond - and to assess how trip values relate to environmental policy and management. We consider three management problems: noise, crowding and environmental damage. We argue that environmental valuation is a valuable tool for management of tourism resources such as national parks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on the use of contingent valuation (CV) for the understanding of consumer preferences for environmental goods. Application of environmental policy; Participation of the public in the decision-making process; Role of CV in providing environmental decision support.

Evaluates the use of cost-benefit analysis (CBA) in environmental policy appraisal in Great Britain. Historical background to the use of the CBA; Strengths and weaknesses of the CBA from the viewpoint of users; Alternatives to the use of the analysis method.

Sets out the legislative background to the recycling of waste materials in the United Kingdom. Benefits from recycling; The provision of recycling credits under the 1990 Environmental Protection Act; The draft Economic Community (EC) Packaging Waste Directive; The German DSD scheme; The setting forth of the elements of a cost-benefit analysis of waste paper recycling; Application of that analysis to a recycling scheme in central Scotland; Conclusions.

Focuses on agri-environmental policy and environmental valuation in Great Britain. Common Agricultural Policy of the European Union; Provision of budgets allocated to environmental protection; Creation of Environmentally Sensitive Areas; Aggregated benefits in valuation studies of landscape and wildlife changes; Predicting environmental change; Design and implementation of the surveys; Valuing changes in forests; Attitudes to forest landscape.

This paper is concerned with policies for the supply of public, environmental goods from the farm .sector, hi particular, we characterize the buying of these goods by the public from farmers using the ‘Provider Gets Principle.‘ This principle is well established in OECD countries, as we demonstrate. Results from ecological-economic modeling of the conservation of heather moorland in northern Scotland, using this principle, are described. This mode! enables us to identify spatially differentiated ecological targets, and to calculate the minimum necessary payments needed to achieve these targets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Provides an overview of issues concerning environmental economics. Issue on the estimation of the value of changes in non-market environmental goods; Shift in non-point diffuse sources of pollution and transboundary pollution from traditional point sources; Innovation in pollution control policy; Climate change and international environmental agreements.

This paper considers the problem of designing PES-type contracts to encourage participation and spatial coordination amongst private forest owners in Finland. The aim of the policy is to increase efforts to mitigate risks from invasive forest pests and diseases. Such control actions yield spill-over benefits to other landowners and to wider society, meaning that the level of privately-optimal disease control is likely to be less than the socially-optimal level. The policy designer may wish to encourage spatial coordination in the uptake of such PES-type contracts, as spatial coordination delivers an increase in the effectiveness of control measures on disease risks. We conducted a choice experiment with private forest owners in Finland in October 2016. The study elicited the preferences of woodland owners with respect to the design of forest disease control contracts, and gauged their willingness to cooperate with neighbouring forest owners within the framework of such programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]