Search Results (6)

Understanding the economic value of natural resources is essential for the sustainable management of national parks. However, most existing studies focus on single conservation objectives and overlook the valuation of multiple resources within the same ecosystem. This study estimates tourists’ willingness to pay (WTP) for the conservation of four natural resources—crab-eating macaques, coral reefs, dry evergreen forests, and clean air—within Khao Laem Ya-Mu Ko Samet National Park in Thailand. Using the contingent valuation method and seemingly unrelated regression (SUR) analysis, data were collected from 205 tourists using structured surveys. The results show that dry evergreen forests received the highest average WTP (THB 129/year), followed by coral reefs (THB 125), clean air (THB 110), and crab-eating macaques (THB 107). At the population level, aggregate annual WTP values ranged from THB 85.7 million to THB 103.2 million across the resources. Age and awareness levels were consistent positive predictors of WTP, while other influencing factors—such as education, income, nationality, and residential location—varied by resource type. The findings provide empirical insights for designing resource-specific conservation strategies and highlight the potential of economic valuation to support sustainable financing mechanisms and policy development for protected area management. Full article

Tourism to Cozumel Island generates USD 762 million annually in local economic activity, and 111 visitors stay in local hotels for each inhabitant. The island’s coast is its principal attraction, yet water quality and reef health are threatened. This paper studies the link between the local economy and management of Arrecifes de Cozumel National Park, using a choice experiment to assess the economic value visitors assign to underwater visibility, biodiversity, and visitor congestion in reef areas. We found that, on average, tourists are willing to pay USD 190 per visit to avoid a projected decrease in biodiversity, USD 120 per visit to prevent a projected decline in visibility, and USD 98 to avoid high congestion during reef visits. We find high heterogeneity in willingness to pay estimates, which may be useful for targeting both conservation and marketing efforts. On the other hand, increasing the reef access fee from USD 2 to USD 6 could fully fund effective protected area management, with no substantial effect on visitors’ consumer surplus. Results suggest that a conservation surcharge could be added to all tours, with little impact on visitation, and that significantly increasing private sector collaboration and government spending on conservation would be good economic choices. Full article

Without appropriate conservation action, coral reefs globally continue to degrade, causing declines in economic value. Therefore, their local conservation and quantifying its benefits become increasingly important. However, accurately measuring these values remains expensive or complicated. Leveraging digital survey tools, an interdisciplinary on-line survey was created to estimate willingness to pay (WTP) for coral reef conservation using pictures and ecological data. Using the contingent valuation method we estimate current values as well as changes in value due to restoration or degradation for coral ecosystems in the Kenting National Park (KNP) in Taiwan. Results suggest that conserving degraded coral reef ecosystems leads to larger gains in value than healthier ones. Average WTP estimates a non-market economic value of 680 million US$ per year for the whole KNP marine area. Despite potential self-reporting bias and limits on sample size, these values appear consistent with similar studies and suggest future economic sampling strategies for KNP. Full article

In addition to remote-sensing monitoring, reconstructing morphologic surface models through interpolation is an effective means to reflect the geomorphological evolution, especially for the lagoons of coral atolls, which are underwater. However, which interpolation method is optimal for lagoon geomorphological reconstruction and how to assess the morphological precision have been unclear. To address the aforementioned problems, this study proposed a morphological precision index system including the root mean square error (RMSE) of the elevation, the change rate of the local slope shape (CRLSS), and the change rate of the local slope aspect (CRLSA), and introduced the spatial appraisal and valuation approach of environment and ecosystems (SAVEE). In detail, ordinary kriging (OK), inverse distance weighting (IDW), radial basis function (RBF), and local polynomial interpolation (LPI) were used to reconstruct the lagoon surface models of a typical coral atoll in South China Sea and the morphological precision of them were assessed, respectively. The results are as follows: (i) OK, IDW, and RBF exhibit the best performance in terms of RMSE (0.3584 m), CRLSS (51.43%), and CRLSA (43.29%), respectively, while with insufficiently robust when considering all three aspects; (ii) IDW, LPI, and RBF are suitable for lagoon slopes, lagoon bottoms, and patch reefs, respectively; (iii) The geomorphic decomposition scale is an important factor that affects the precision of geomorphologic reconstructions; and, (iv) This system and evaluation approach can more comprehensively consider the differences in multiple precision indices. Full article

The complexity of quantifying ecosystem services in monetary terms has long been a challenging issue for economists and ecologists. Many case specific valuation studies have been carried out in various parts of the World. Yet, a coherent review on the valuation of coastal ecosystem services (CES), which systematically describes fundamental concepts, analyzes reported applications, and addresses the issue of climate change (CC) impacts on the monetary value of CES is still lacking. Here, we take a step towards addressing this knowledge gap by pursuing a coherent review that aims to provide policy makers and researchers in multidisciplinary teams with a summary of the state-of-the-art and a guideline on the process of economic valuation of CES and potential changes in these values due to CC impacts. The article highlights the main concepts of CES valuation studies and offers a systematic analysis of the best practices by analyzing two global scale and 30 selected local and regional case studies, in which different CES have been valued. Our analysis shows that coral reefs and mangroves are among the most frequently valued ecosystems, while sea-grass beds are the least considered ones. Currently, tourism and recreation services as well as storm protection are two of the most considered services representing higher estimated value than other CES. In terms of the valuation techniques used, avoided damage, replacement and substitute cost method as well as stated preference method are among the most commonly used valuation techniques. Following the above analysis, we propose a methodological framework that provides step-wise guidance and better insight into the linkages between climate change impacts and the monetary value of CES. This highlights two main types of CC impacts on CES: one being the climate regulation services of coastal ecosystems, and the other being the monetary value of services, which is subject to substantial uncertainty. Finally, a systematic four-step approach is proposed to effectively monetize potential CC driven variations in the value of CES. Full article

Florida Reef stakeholders have downplayed the role of anthropogenic climate change while recognizing the reef system’s degradation. With an emphasis on recreational anglers, a survey using contingent valuation methods investigated stakeholders’ attitudes about the Florida Reef, climate change, and willingness to pay for sustainable and local seafood. Angst expressed about acidification and other climate change effects represents a recent shift of opinion. Supermajorities were willing to pay premiums for sustainably harvested and especially local seafood. Regression analysis revealed trust in seafood labels, travel to coral reefs, political orientation, place of birth, and motorboat use as strong, direct predictors of shopping behavior, age and environmental concerns as moderately influential, and income and education as surprisingly poor predictors. Distrust of authority may motivate some stakeholders, but new attitudes about climate change and the high desirability of local seafood offer potential for renewed regional engagement and market-based incentives for sustainability. Full article