Environmental attitudes and preferences for coastal zone improvements

Abstract

This study seeks to improve our understanding of why some people place a high value on coastal zones by using attitudinal and preference factors in a Contingent Valuation Method (CVM) study. Specifically, it measures public preferences for improving the quality (protection) of the Pagasitikos coastal area in Greece. In doing so we explore the influence of environmental attitudes on preferences and people’s willingness to pay (WTP) for coastal zone conservation. The methodology involves use of principal component and cluster analyses together with logistic regressions. Various demographic variables (such as education and income) together with people’s preferences for coastal zones are shown to have a strong impact on their WTP. In a second stage of the analysis, people who accepted the CVM scenario results were grouped into two cohorts to illustrate the different attitudes to coastal zone management and ecological issues.