Perceived Economic Value of Ecosystem Services in the US Rio Grande Basin

Weiwei Wang,Jadwiga R Ziolkowska,Jianhong E Mu

doi:10.3390/su132413798

Abstract

In recent decades, the US Rio Grande Basin has experienced serious ecosystem degradation as a result of recurring severe droughts and a growing population. Monetary valuation of ecosystem services is essential for encouraging conservation where natural resources such as freshwater are limited. Research in this field is still very limited, and economic estimations of ecosystem services in the US Rio Grande Basin have not been undertaken extensively. This study adds to the existing contemporary literature by means of the willingness-to-pay evaluation. We found the mean household wiliness to pay of total ecosystem services across the Rio Grande Basin to amount to USD 62/year, and the average perceived economic value was estimated to be USD 26.2, USD 19.7, USD 8.1, and USD 7.1 yearly for conservation of habitat for wildlife, provision of freshwater supplies, recreational activities, and cultural heritage, respectively. The income and perceptions about the importance of various ecosystem services in the Rio Grande Basin were among the main determinants of respondents’ assessments. The findings provide an appropriate foundation for incorporating perceived economic value into watershed management and conservation.

Highlights

According to the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment [1], ecosystem services are defined as the benefits to human well-being obtained from ecosystems that serve both local communities and natural environments.Healthy freshwater ecosystems provide benefits and services that are the foundation for human and social development
This study focused on the economic evaluation that could help incentivize residents of the Rio Grande Basin to conserve water resources and maintain ecosystem services for different applications
In order to test the hypothesis, contingent valuation surveys were conducted in the step followed by a Heckman sample-selection model to determine the economic value of first step followed by a Heckman sample-selection model to determine the economic value water ecosystem services stemming from the US Rio Grande, unveiling the relationship of water ecosystem services stemming from the US Rio Grande, unveiling the relationship between WTP and personal characteristics

Summary

Introduction

According to the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment [1], ecosystem services are defined as the benefits to human well-being obtained from ecosystems (biotic and abiotic elements of the environment) that serve both local communities and natural environments. Healthy freshwater ecosystems provide benefits and services that are the foundation for human and social development. Quantifying the value associated with watershed ecosystem services is useful to support environmental policy decisions and to promote sustainable watershed management and conservation [2,3,4,5,6]. Several economic valuation methods have been developed to assess the value of changes in ecosystem services. Non-market valuation methods are useful in cases when direct markets for ecosystem goods and services do not exist and direct market prices are missing. The contingent valuation method (CVM) has been widely used to measure people’s willingness-to-pay (WTP) for nonmarket goods or services [2,7,8,9,10]

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion