Value attributes and user preferences for the coastal wetland ecosystem in Caofeidian, China

Abstract

The coastal wetland ecosystem in Caofeidian has undergone serious degradation over the past 50 years. The local government and policy makers need scientific information of integrating wetland protection and economic development. In this study, in order to evaluate the respondents’ preference for the possible attribute change of biodiversity, wetland restoration, water quality, and tourism infrastructure, choice experiment is performed, and after comparing the conditional logit model, the random parameter logit model, and the random parameter logit model with interactions, the random parameter logit model with interactions is treated as the main model to estimate the unobserved and observed preference heterogeneity and marginal willingness to pay for the corresponding attributes. Results show that “more wetland restoration” is the highest valued attribute, respondents with a high education degree are inclined to conduct wetland restoration actions, and respondents who have visited the coastal wetland ecosystem before tend to pay a high price. Furthermore, a hypothetical option of wetland ecosystem management, which is defined in terms of “medium biodiversity,” “more wetland restoration,” “best water quality,” and “more tourism infrastructure,” is recommended, and it could be regarded as the main development pattern for the future construction and restoration of the coastal wetland ecosystem.