A Study of People’s Preferences of the Environmental Status of Lake Harku and the Benefits Offered by the Lake and Its Surroundings

Abstract

The article examines the demand of people for the improvement of the condition Lake Harku. Lake Harku is located in a densely populated area on the border of the city of Tallinn and it is in a poor state as a water body according to the EU classification. Two stated preference methods, contingent valuation (CV) and choice experiment (CE), were used for assessing the monetary value people place on the improvement of the ecosystem services of the lake as non-market environmental goods. The results of the work confirmed there is significant willingness to pay for the improvement of the condition of the water body. From a methodological point of view, an important finding is that the CV method yielded lower result than the estimated payment option of the CE.