Long-term evolution of preferences for conservation projects in the Seto Inland Sea, Japan: a comprehensive analytic framework

PeerJ

article

Takuro Uehara¹  Takahiro Tsuge²  Takahiro Ota³ 

[1] College of Policy Science, Ritsumeikan University;Department of Economics, Konan University;Graduate School of Fisheries and Environmental Science, Nagasaki University

关键词: Coastal ecosystem services;    Protest responses;    Willingness to pay;    Contingent valuation method;    Benefit transfer;   

DOI  :  10.7717/peerj.5366

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Inra

【 摘 要 】

Background The long-term evolution of preferences for nature is crucial to conservation projects, given their targeted long-term horizons. Neglecting to account for this evolution could lead to undesirable human–nature relationships. This study compares the willingness to pay (WTP) for three coastal conservation projects in the Seto Inland Sea, Japan, at two distant time points (1998 and 2015), and tests for temporal transferability. It also compares protest responses that are often overlooked in WTP practices, regardless of their utility for conservation projects. Methods Given the lack of a unanimous protocol for protest response analyses and their use in estimating WTP, we propose a comprehensive analytic framework that integrates the two. Results We show that, while preferences for coastal ecosystem services were overall stable and temporarily transferable, the preferences for certain aspects of conservation projects considerably changed. Discussion This suggests the need to reconsider the projects’ scheme, not the ecosystem services themselves, along with the clarification of beneficiaries and those responsible for past destruction. We conclude by suggesting further studies with a focus on regions experiencing significant social-ecological changes, such as developing countries, by exploiting the rich asset of existing valuations. This could contribute to the database for more temporal-sensitive ecosystem service valuations utilized for benefit transfers.

【 授权许可】

CC BY