Prioritizing stakeholders' preferences for policy scenarios of vulnerable ecosystems with spatial heterogeneity in choice experiment: Coupling stated preferences with elevation

Understanding public preferences and evaluating the river basin are essential for effective river basin management, and enhancing its environmental attributes can provide considerable non-market benefits. As such, the study explores the heterogeneity in people's preferences and rankings of river ecosystem services based on their willingness to pay (WTP) to upgrade these services. A research survey was conducted throughout the river basin using a choice experiment approach. In this study, we evaluated the impact of study area elevation (a spatial attribute) on residents' willingness to pay for rehabilitation of environmental attributes. The study incorporates 6 ecological attributes in order to examine the differences in people's willingness to pay at various elevation levels. A total of five cities and 33 surrounding villages and townships were surveyed, while five elevation groups were made on an ad hoc basis to split samples, i.e., 1000-1600 m, ≤1600-2200 m, ≤2200-2800 m, > 2800-3400 m, and 3400-4000 m. The results of the mixed logit model recognized that people living at different elevations value rehabilitation of varying environmental attributes differently. For example, the inhabitants in Group 1 (1000-1600 mm) are willing to pay RMB 6.70 per year for biodiversity upgrades; while the WTP of the people for the same attributes is RMB 32.68 in Group 5 (3400-4000 mm). The Krinsky Robb approach confirmed that agricultural product quality and greenhouse gases (GHGs) were the most highly valued attributes, with a willingness to pay of RMB 90.40 and RMB 47.17, respectively. Applying these results as a reference for sustainable improvements and uplift of deteriorated ecological qualities is an example of how they may be helpful in bettering the world.

Spatial prioritization of willingness to pay for ecosystem services. A novel notion of distance from origin's impression

Valuation of environmental goods and services are frequently spatially heterogeneous, the significance of this heterogeneity for policy analysis is gradually recognized. For the valuation of environmental goods and services in the context of attaining a better environmental status across Heihe River basin (HRB), Northwest of China by 2020, a survey was conducted employing choice experiment approach across the entire river basin. In this research we estimate the impact of distance from inland rivers' origin (spatial attribute) on the inhabitants' willingness to pay for restoration of ecological attributes. A total of 11 ecological attributes were selected including 6 land related attributes and 5 water related attributes. The present study displays the outcomes of the research planned to examine differences in willingness to pay across different locations/distances. A total of five cities and 33 surround villages/townships were included to examine for location effect, while four ad hoc base distances split samples were recognized for distance effect i.e. ≤100 km, ≤200 km, ≤300 and > 300 km from rivers' origin. The results of mixed logit model recognized that people living at different locations value the attributes differently. For instance the people of Zhangye region are willing to pay RMB 95.66 annually for improvements in biodiversity while in Gaotai the individuals' willingness to pay (WTP) for the same attributes was RMB 45.68. Similarly, the respondents' living nearer to the origin of river were willing to pay relatively higher amount for the upgradation in the degraded ecosystem services than the remainders. The results of willingness to pay obtained by Krinsky Robb method confirmed that the attributes quality of agricultural products and water quality were the most preferred attributes with the willingness to pay RMB 91.09 and 122.89 respectively. The significant results of willingness to pay may serve as a reference for sustainable improvements and uplifting of the degraded ecological attributes.

Exploring the spatial heterogeneity of individual preferences for integrated river basin management: an example of Heihe river basin

This study mainly focuses on welfare impacts from improving considerably degraded river stretches of Heihe river basin and to determine the impact of spatial heterogeneity on willingness-to-pay (WTP) for integrated river basin management (IRBM). The significant WTP values for ecological attributes improvement revealed that the respondents of Heihe river basin significantly support the integrated ecological restoration program. However, socioeconomic characteristics and residential location have a significant impact on WTP values for different ecological attributes. The results demonstrate that water quality is the most preferred variable among all the river attributes in the study area. For example, in Zhangye, Gaotai, Ejinaqi, Minle, and Sunan the respondents were willing to pay 90.6, 160.44, 377.15, 65.40, and 139.21 Yuan per year, respectively, for a one-grade improvement in current water quality. Our findings also show that all the major counties of the basin concern more about water quality representing the relative importance of river water and express the maximum WTP for its improvement, while all major counties also share a low WTP for improvements in conditions of the leisure and entertainment. The differences in socioeconomic characteristics and ecological status of the respondents partially explain the disparity in utility from IRBM. In conclusion, the results based on only specific sub-basin of river basin may over or underestimate the welfare estimate.